A teenage thief from Nipigon, Ontario, who comes of age witnessing a death in a small town; who puts his high school bully in a wheelchair; who drinks away his youth; who lies, cheats and steals his way out of poverty, scamming his way to the bottom rung of the Canadian contemporary art market in the early 1990s. But the education of a petty criminal has left a few gaps in his memory. behind every funny story, there are dark secrets. as Emmett Grogan unearths the pivotal moment of his childhood while helping a high school drinking buddy dig up the release date of the first Star Wars movie at their hometown cinema, back in the 1970s. Unflinchingly honest, by turns heartbreaking and hilarious, the full arc of a quiet, desperate life is captured here, in this nuanced, meticulously crafted novel of interlocking stories.