"Unabridged version first published in hardcover in Australia by William Heinemann in 1989. Condensed version originally published in hardcover in Australia by Penguin Books, Ltd, Sydney, in 1999"--T.p. verso.
Summary
Follows Peekay, a white British boy in South Africa during World War II, between the ages of five and eleven, as he survives an abusive boarding school and goes on to succeed in life and the boxing ring, with help from a chicken, a boxer, a pianist, black African prisoners, and many others.