John James Todd, a Scotsman born in 1899 and one of the great self-appointed (and failed) geniuses of the twentieth century. This book deals with his life and work.

'Brilliant. A Citizen Kane of a novel' Daily Telegraph
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Meet John James Todd:
Scotsman, auteur, Rousseau-fanatic - and 'subversive element'

Born in 1899, John James Todd is one of the great, failed geniuses of the last century. His reminiscences, collected in The New Confessions, take us from Edinburgh to the Western Front, the Berlin film-world in the Twenties to Hollywood in the Thirties, Forties and beyond.

Suffering imprisonment, shooting, marriage, fatherhood, divorce and McCarthyism, Todd is a hostage to good fortune, ill-judgement, bad luck, the vast sweep of history and the cruel, cruel hand of fate . . .

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'A magnificent feat of storytelling and panoramic reconstruction' Observer

'Paced and plotted with sinewy, unfailing skill . . . Boyd has given us a work of rich, ripe and immensely enjoyable entertainment' Sunday Times

'Simply the best realistic storyteller of his generation' Independent