The debut novel from socialist author James Curtis, The Gilt Kid was first published in 1936 and remains as sharp in its dialogue and use of the vernacular as anything around today.

The Gilt Kid is fresh out of prison, a burglar with communist sympathies who isn’t thinking about rehabilitation. Society is unfair and he wants some cash in his pocket and a place to live, and quickly lines up a couple of burglaries in the London suburbs. But complications arise and he is soon dodging the police, checking the newspapers and looking over his shoulder, fearing the ultimate punishment for a crime he hasn’t committed.