One Good Hustle

LONGLIST 2012 – SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE

“You must read Billie Livingston…. Sammie is smart, mouthy, literate and articulate, and she compels you to listen.”
—The Globe and Mail
 
“Very involving…. Livingstone portrays Sammie’s internal conflict with devastating precision…. Great storytelling.”
—NOW (Toronto) NNNN
 
“I loved, just loved One Good Hustle.”
—Susie Moloney, Numéro Cinq
 
“First-rate storytelling.”
—The Georgia Straight
 
“Billie Livingston has the knack of portraying teenage life in a way that is unerring and intimate.”
—Toronto Star


“Entertaining, thoughtful & perfectly crass from page 1, character is steady & strong — Written feverishly: a primal scream.”
—The One Line Review
 
“Stuck in a rough hustle, the sensitive daughter of two con artists uses badass honesty and wit to survive. Funny, sharp and tender, One Good Hustle delivers a gritty page-turner about what happens when love and loyalty collide with self-preservation.”
—Eden Robinson, author of Monkey Beach and Blood Sports

“What a joy to read a work so brave and unsettling. Billie Livingston holds nothing back: the terrors of teenage life; the charm of criminals; and the innocence and anger of girls on the run. Sammie Bell is Holden Caulfield, if he was born on the wrong side of the tracks and wandering through Vancouver streets.”
—Rebecca Godfrey, author of The Torn Skirt and Under the Bridge: The True Story of the Murder of Reena Virk

“In One Good Hustle, Billie Livingston once again masterfully deploys her edgy wit to create a perfectly pitched adolescent voice, an unforgettable heroine whose scam artist toughness is matched only by her yearning for authenticity. A great read from start to finish.”
—Lilian Nattel, author of Web of Angels