Muswell struts off with Deane's 'wickedly humorous' memoir

Muswell Press has snapped up From Mohair Suits to Kinky Boots: How Music, Clothes and Going Out Shaped My Life and Upset My Mother, a memoir by British musician and screenwriter Geoff Deane.

Publishers Sarah and Kate Beal bought world rights from Chris Newson at Newson Wallwork Media. The memoir charts Deane’s journey from working as a kitchen porter to singing in the punk band the Leyton Buzzards and later Modern Romance, working as a journalist and producer, before writing the screen play for "Kinky Boots", which became a Tony Award-winning Broadway stage show. 

"This is the tale of life lived large, a collection of uproarious and often moving stories from Geoff’s youth as a clothes obsessed Jewish suedehead, hanging out in Tottenham dancehalls, via straight Bowie Boy frequenting London’s gay clubs, gender confusion in Manhattan’s Studio 54, and on to huge career success as a screenwriter," the synopsis reads. 

"With a cast ranging from local oddballs to international celebrities, Geoff Deane’s unique take on the world is only matched by his extraordinarily rich use of language, with a smattering of Cockney rhyming slang, Yiddish and Polari."

The publishers said: "Geoff’s unique voice, verbal pyrotechnics and extraordinary array of wickedly humorous stories, from the East End to Hollywood, are guaranteed to earn him a huge audience of appreciative readers and festival goers. We cannot wait to share this book with the world."

Deane added: "If this book moves you or provokes some serious thought I’m humbled. But all I really care about are the laughs."