"Either the work of John Fante is unknown to you or unforgettable. He was not the kind of writer to leave room in between."—The New York Times

"Fante was my God."—Charles Bukowski

John Fante’s classic California novel details the adventures of his alter ego, Arturo Bandini, a young writer in Great Depression-era Los Angeles. Struggling to succeed, Bandini falls into an obsessive love affair with the elusive, mocking, unstable Camilla Lopez, a Mexican waitress. Yet just as fortune looms with the publication of his first novel, everything falls apart when Camilla has a nervous breakdown and disappears?propelling Bandini to reject the writer’s life.