Malcolm and Jack

the long version

In 1944, well before either is famous, Malcolm Little and Jack Kerouac are both living in upper Manhattan, dodging the war, smoking grass, and digging jazz. They don?t know each other, except maybe by sight, maybe becoming aware of each other at a Billie Holiday show, maybe not. One thing they do know: they?re criminals. In this ambitious novel of multiple voices -- male and female, black and white, gay and straight -- Ted Pelton writes from the other side of history, about a generation that probably wasn't the greatest, and about the other stories that might be told.