Showing results for "Grace" in Dark Humour

There’s been a death at HM Prison Stainmouth. The corpse in question is one Impetus Stokes, criminal mastermind, found dead in his cell from an overdose. For no obvious reason, Agatha Pleasant's team of squabbling misfits are assigned the task of collecting his coffin, sitting on it for a few days before handing it over to the necessary authorities. It makes no sense whatsoever, but then why break the habit of a lifetime? Besides, how hard can it be to watch over a coffin?

Twelve-year-old Grace lives with her sister and grandmother in a two-bedroom rent-controlled New York City apartment. On Saturday, April 19, 1986, she finds herself on the run, outwitting her grandmother, kissing a boy she really likes, and tricking adults out of their spot in line at a local Jamaican restaurant, all while she constantly thinks about parents she never really knew. Just when she thinks she has everything under control, her world is turned upside. Her account of the day is one part punchy and humorous and another part sad and all too real.