Nowhere Man

The mind- and language-bending adventures of Hemon's endearing protagonist Jozef Pronek.

From reading of Jozef Pronek's exploits in The Question of Bruno we know he is a young man from Sarajevo who arrived in the US in 1992, just in time to watch war break out back home on TV. Stranded in Chicago, he proved himself a charming and perceptive observer of - and participant in - American life. Now, with Nowhere Man, Pronek, accidental urban nomad, gets his own book.

From the grand causes of Jozef's adolescence - principally, fighting to change the face of rock and roll and struggling to lose his virginity - up through a fleeting encounter with George Bush (the first) in Kiev, to enrolment in an English-language class and the glorious adventures of minimum-wage living, Pronek's experiences are at once touchingly familiar and bracingly out-of-the-ordinary.