Illywhacker is a dazzling comic narrative, from the lips of the 139-year-old Herbert Badgery, the 'illywhacker' or confidence trickster of the title. Overflowing with magic, jokes and inventions, peopled with aviators, car salesmen, Chinamen and impresarios, Peter Carey's novel is a contemporary classic. 'Illywhacker is a tour de force, both funny and moving, the work of an original at full stretch.' Financial Times 'It is impossible to convey in a review the cumulative brilliance and accelerating hilarity of the prose.' London Review of Books