Les stripteaseuses ont toujours besoin de conseils juridiques Strippers Are Always in Need of Legal Advice

Iain Levison
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A legal aid lawyer is offered very lucrative work for a striptease club. Will he sell his soul? A funny biting critique of the American judicial and police system, and of a society where money reigns supreme.

A once renowned lawyer, Justin Sykes drew a line under his brilliant career by denouncing a scandal implicating the firm that employed him. Since then, he works as a legal aid lawyer in Philadelphia, a morally satisfying profession but hardly lucrative. On behalf of his clients, he plea-bargains with the assistant prosecutor Dick Farrell, Jr., a spoiled brat he despises and whose ambitions become troublesome… One day, through the intermediary of a convict, Justin is offered work by a certain Marcus, the Afro-American owner of a strip club and motel near the airport. The deal: to dispense legal advice one hour a week to the girls at the club and then spend the night in the motel. In exchange, he’ll find $1,000 in small notes slipped into his glove compartment. Justin hesitates–Marcus is a notorious dealer–then accepts. Where’s the ethics in all this? Justin pragmatically tells himself that as long as he’s not doing anything illegal, it’s all fine. Over the course of the weeks, he notices he’s not the only one spending an hour in the club and the night in the motel: a plumber and a businesswoman also seem to be dispensing their services. But to what end? And just what lies behind this arrangement that smells more and more fishy?

Born in Scotland in 1963, Iain Levison moved to the USA in 1971. At the end of his university career, he worked for ten years in various capacities, the source of inspiration for his autobiograpical account « Tribulations d’un précaire ». He met with immediate success in France upon the publication of his first novel, « Un petit boulot ». Among those that followed, funny and scathing critiques of American society, three have already been adapted to the cinema. With this, his ninth novel, Iain Levison will be a guest at Festival America in September 2024.

  • Published on août 29th, 2024
  • 240 pages

About

“Iain Levison views the world coolly, but always with a touch of humor, and especially a lot of tenderness and humanity” – France Info.
“Iain Levison is still as funny and unsettling.” — Le Canard Enchaîné
“For gallows humor and social criticism, there’s nobody like Levison when studying the United States, plus an intriguing plot and madness . . .” – Corse Matin
“Sarcastic and cranky, yet always funny and tender . . . A must read!” Siné Mensuel
“A top-flight, winning return by the American novelist!” – Karen Lajon
“A scathing attack of the American judicial system written in compelling, bare-bones style.” – La Tribune du dimanche
“Surprising and accomplished!” – Point de vue
“A gem!” – Le Progrès
“A fabulous spell of reading!” – Librairie Compagnie
“Powerful!” — Blog Les Mafieuses