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The Tale of Findo Gask
The story of an extraordinary thief who will capture your heart as he strives to make sure an uncaring world never forgets his name.
“…a close look at the feral side of mankind… yet… a curiously tender work”
From stealing cigarettes to an armed raid on a security firm… from saving drowning dogs to snatching an opera diva’s tiara, ‘Findo Gask’ tells the story of a rollercoaster life in the underbelly of modern Britain.
It’s also the story of a lonely boy trying to find love and earn respect from the few people that he does trust.
Findo Gask is born into poverty. His mother is a drug addict and he grows up surrounded by the worst kind of underworld lowlifes. But Findo is someone special and determined to make sure his name isn’t forgotten.
Growing up as an unregistered child with no official identity, Findo learns early on how to keep his head down, slip in and out of places unobserved, and run from trouble - perfect talents for a thief.
Initially, Findo steals to survive but - as he gets older and his exploits more audacious - theft becomes a form of self-expression, a way of asserting his identity and shouting out his name to anyone who will listen… including Abby McGee, the girl who steals his heart.
‘The Tale Of Findo Gask’ is a story about a boy with no official identity but a burning desire to prove himself; someone who does what others would love to do if they had no morals… or weren’t frightened of getting caught.
“…a close look at the feral side of mankind… yet… a curiously tender work”
From stealing cigarettes to an armed raid on a security firm… from saving drowning dogs to snatching an opera diva’s tiara, ‘Findo Gask’ tells the story of a rollercoaster life in the underbelly of modern Britain.
It’s also the story of a lonely boy trying to find love and earn respect from the few people that he does trust.
Findo Gask is born into poverty. His mother is a drug addict and he grows up surrounded by the worst kind of underworld lowlifes. But Findo is someone special and determined to make sure his name isn’t forgotten.
Growing up as an unregistered child with no official identity, Findo learns early on how to keep his head down, slip in and out of places unobserved, and run from trouble - perfect talents for a thief.
Initially, Findo steals to survive but - as he gets older and his exploits more audacious - theft becomes a form of self-expression, a way of asserting his identity and shouting out his name to anyone who will listen… including Abby McGee, the girl who steals his heart.
‘The Tale Of Findo Gask’ is a story about a boy with no official identity but a burning desire to prove himself; someone who does what others would love to do if they had no morals… or weren’t frightened of getting caught.
450 pages, Paperback
First published December 22, 2011
About the author
Huw Thomas
5 books4 followersDaydreaming and thinking up imaginary situations and conversations have been among my favourite occupations for as long as I can remember.
Books have always played a big part in my life - reading them by the dozen and writing them.
I wrote my first 'novel' when I was still at primary school and a few decades on I'm still going.
Writing has always been my first love. I'm not sure that I could stop even if I wanted to but feedback from readers is a great motivator - knowing that others are entertained and/or inspired by my ideas is enormously satisfying.
Books have always played a big part in my life - reading them by the dozen and writing them.
I wrote my first 'novel' when I was still at primary school and a few decades on I'm still going.
Writing has always been my first love. I'm not sure that I could stop even if I wanted to but feedback from readers is a great motivator - knowing that others are entertained and/or inspired by my ideas is enormously satisfying.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 28, 2012
The lowest depths of the human condition in civilized, Western nations (specifically in this case urban England) are drawn in exquisite detail in Huw Thomas’s The Tale of Findo Gask.
Findo is a child thief, born into a world devoid of all that four thousand years of human effort has sought to make orderly, yet a world utterly familiar to the 21st century reader down, to the minutest detail of Mars bars, packaged foods and the latest in surveillance equipment.
This work is a good deal more than an entertaining picaresque novel in the tradition of Lazarillo de Tormes and Oliver Twist, it is a close look at the feral side of mankind, where all the well meant social programs are cancelled and the fundamental instincts of homo sapiens are all that is ultimately needed for survival. Findo Gask’s self effacing cautions and delicately fostered skills of observation of his surroundings are those of the human animal in a deadly wilderness, and here the wilderness is the abandoned buildings of failed urban industry and their inhabitants who live by illegal means from theft to drug dealing to prostitution and “protection” rackets.
Yet The Tale of Findo Gask is a curiously tender work, not only because the young hero finds a few people who treat him with care and kindness, but because the author delves into an understanding of his every impulse and perception with an intimacy that injects the reader under his skin – there the reader finds a being quite like she or he own might have been.
The child thief is not the only character treated with such insight. A series of characters, from the drug raddled prostitute mother to a second generation Marxist librarian to a lonely little middle class girl to an astute mobster kingpin are explored in what amount to side essays on the history of each. While these habitual digressions of the writer may be seen as a structural flaw according to the canons of creative writing’s “show, don’t tell” they are perfectly in keeping with the shape of the picaresque novel.
Should society not have done better in its eons of effort to create a civilized world? Should governments take note and find the means to eradicate these lower depths of suffering and violence? Or is mankind still feral in nature, recreating wilderness in even the most “developed” and controlled of societies?
The Tale of Findo Gask is a brilliant work of observation of the human condition in its most tried and trying circumstances short of literal battlefields, and Thomas has rendered his insights, miraculously, in an enjoyable and compelling way.
Findo is a child thief, born into a world devoid of all that four thousand years of human effort has sought to make orderly, yet a world utterly familiar to the 21st century reader down, to the minutest detail of Mars bars, packaged foods and the latest in surveillance equipment.
This work is a good deal more than an entertaining picaresque novel in the tradition of Lazarillo de Tormes and Oliver Twist, it is a close look at the feral side of mankind, where all the well meant social programs are cancelled and the fundamental instincts of homo sapiens are all that is ultimately needed for survival. Findo Gask’s self effacing cautions and delicately fostered skills of observation of his surroundings are those of the human animal in a deadly wilderness, and here the wilderness is the abandoned buildings of failed urban industry and their inhabitants who live by illegal means from theft to drug dealing to prostitution and “protection” rackets.
Yet The Tale of Findo Gask is a curiously tender work, not only because the young hero finds a few people who treat him with care and kindness, but because the author delves into an understanding of his every impulse and perception with an intimacy that injects the reader under his skin – there the reader finds a being quite like she or he own might have been.
The child thief is not the only character treated with such insight. A series of characters, from the drug raddled prostitute mother to a second generation Marxist librarian to a lonely little middle class girl to an astute mobster kingpin are explored in what amount to side essays on the history of each. While these habitual digressions of the writer may be seen as a structural flaw according to the canons of creative writing’s “show, don’t tell” they are perfectly in keeping with the shape of the picaresque novel.
Should society not have done better in its eons of effort to create a civilized world? Should governments take note and find the means to eradicate these lower depths of suffering and violence? Or is mankind still feral in nature, recreating wilderness in even the most “developed” and controlled of societies?
The Tale of Findo Gask is a brilliant work of observation of the human condition in its most tried and trying circumstances short of literal battlefields, and Thomas has rendered his insights, miraculously, in an enjoyable and compelling way.
September 6, 2025
Findo Gask, the author says in a note, is the name of some little village he happened upon that sounded to him like a good name for a character. So he invented that character and wrote this story about him.
It's an unusual story, not very realistic and, aside from a few captivating scenes, not particularly well-told. My reading stalled out in the middle but I eventually came back to see it through to the finish. Overall, it's a solid three stars.
Findo Gask, the character, is born to a prostitute living off the grid in an unnamed town in the north of England. His birth is never registered, meaning he doesn't get a national insurance number and never sees a doctor, social worker, or teacher. He's just there, "growing up among the city's dregs and dropouts, living a hand-to-mouth existence among addicts, prostitutes, petty criminals and other human cast-offs."
But Findo has some things working in his favor, especially an older half-sister named Billy who in his infancy rescues him from some bizarre baby-selling operation. As he grows, she helps him get his footing. Also, he responds to his environment with the alacrity of a young wild animal, quickly learning necessary skills such as how to slip past a harried shop owner to steal cigarettes for his elders. We're told "deceiving and thieving were as natural a way of foraging as searching for nuts and berries to a primitive hunter-gatherer." He certainly has no qualms about stealing, and never develops any. (When challenged about that, he retorts that everybody wants to take advantage of other people. The only thing that makes him unusual is his willingness to take risks.) What he develops instead of morals is an uncanny ability to pick locks, defeat security systems, climb drainpipes to access windows high off the ground, and never get caught. Wanting credit for his accomplishments, he leaves a printed calling card with his name every time he makes off with some priceless collectible (which he then sells for a pittance, the thrill of it all being sufficient motivation).
However, he's not malicious! He's a good guy! When he meets Abby, a girl from the respectable side of town, he develops affection for her, as she does for him. With her as an admiring audience, he rescues a litter of puppies from drowning in the river, so you see deep down he's basically all right!
That's probably enough about Findo and his story. Now for the good bits and the not-so-good.
The first scene that stood out for me is the one when Findo and Abby, posing as children of guests at an MP's lawn party, steal a miniature car from his garage and take it on a joy-ride around town. It held my attention because I kept expecting them to get caught. Another caper occurs much later, when he springs his former "employer" from jail. That one fell a little flat because the escapee seemed more like a two-dimensional parcel. Another, very elaborate escapade occurs near the end, followed by his high-stakes attempt to rescue Abby and others from a burning building. Both of those are page-turners, but I had some trouble visualizing exactly what he was doing.
In between the hijinks are pages of prose that, frankly, is weak. There's way too much telling. An author should not expect me to take his word for it that someone has "a wry sense of humor" or that one character likes another. Such insights should be apparent from their dialogue and actions. Granted, sometimes this kind of thing comes in handy when narrative is fast-forwarding past less important stuff. Let's just say there's far too much of it.
There's also a lot of explaining of motives, etc. on the narrator's part. I expect that sort of thing in memoirs but not so much in contemporary fiction.
A few pages from the end I still had no idea how the story was going to conclude. That's good. Unfortunately, the actual end doesn't feel right. Clearly, Huw Thomas likes his character, and wants us to like him, and to rationalize everything on his behalf in the same way Findo does for himself. I couldn't quite do that. A story like this needs to be a little more plausible.
It's an unusual story, not very realistic and, aside from a few captivating scenes, not particularly well-told. My reading stalled out in the middle but I eventually came back to see it through to the finish. Overall, it's a solid three stars.
Findo Gask, the character, is born to a prostitute living off the grid in an unnamed town in the north of England. His birth is never registered, meaning he doesn't get a national insurance number and never sees a doctor, social worker, or teacher. He's just there, "growing up among the city's dregs and dropouts, living a hand-to-mouth existence among addicts, prostitutes, petty criminals and other human cast-offs."
But Findo has some things working in his favor, especially an older half-sister named Billy who in his infancy rescues him from some bizarre baby-selling operation. As he grows, she helps him get his footing. Also, he responds to his environment with the alacrity of a young wild animal, quickly learning necessary skills such as how to slip past a harried shop owner to steal cigarettes for his elders. We're told "deceiving and thieving were as natural a way of foraging as searching for nuts and berries to a primitive hunter-gatherer." He certainly has no qualms about stealing, and never develops any. (When challenged about that, he retorts that everybody wants to take advantage of other people. The only thing that makes him unusual is his willingness to take risks.) What he develops instead of morals is an uncanny ability to pick locks, defeat security systems, climb drainpipes to access windows high off the ground, and never get caught. Wanting credit for his accomplishments, he leaves a printed calling card with his name every time he makes off with some priceless collectible (which he then sells for a pittance, the thrill of it all being sufficient motivation).
However, he's not malicious! He's a good guy! When he meets Abby, a girl from the respectable side of town, he develops affection for her, as she does for him. With her as an admiring audience, he rescues a litter of puppies from drowning in the river, so you see deep down he's basically all right!
That's probably enough about Findo and his story. Now for the good bits and the not-so-good.
The first scene that stood out for me is the one when Findo and Abby, posing as children of guests at an MP's lawn party, steal a miniature car from his garage and take it on a joy-ride around town. It held my attention because I kept expecting them to get caught. Another caper occurs much later, when he springs his former "employer" from jail. That one fell a little flat because the escapee seemed more like a two-dimensional parcel. Another, very elaborate escapade occurs near the end, followed by his high-stakes attempt to rescue Abby and others from a burning building. Both of those are page-turners, but I had some trouble visualizing exactly what he was doing.
In between the hijinks are pages of prose that, frankly, is weak. There's way too much telling. An author should not expect me to take his word for it that someone has "a wry sense of humor" or that one character likes another. Such insights should be apparent from their dialogue and actions. Granted, sometimes this kind of thing comes in handy when narrative is fast-forwarding past less important stuff. Let's just say there's far too much of it.
There's also a lot of explaining of motives, etc. on the narrator's part. I expect that sort of thing in memoirs but not so much in contemporary fiction.
A few pages from the end I still had no idea how the story was going to conclude. That's good. Unfortunately, the actual end doesn't feel right. Clearly, Huw Thomas likes his character, and wants us to like him, and to rationalize everything on his behalf in the same way Findo does for himself. I couldn't quite do that. A story like this needs to be a little more plausible.
February 20, 2013
This was the first book I've read of Huw Thomas's, and I'm looking forward to the next one! It took me a while to get through (mainly because it took a while to get used to reading on my Kindle and reading regularly again period) but I really enjoyed it.
The story focuses on the title character, Findo Gask, a boy thief living life the only way he knows how, stealing, burgling, etc. While the book doesn't really apologize for his lifestyle, it does a lot to explain it, starting from his birth, the circumstances under which he grew up, and how he managed to infiltrate "normal" societal life as he matures.
The story got off to a little bit of a slow start, going into a police investigation of one of Findo's crimes, and then jumping back into Findo's birth and early development, but the pace picks up as Findo gets older and starts making friends and learning that there is an entire world out there wholly differently from his own.
I was actually really grateful I read this particular book on my Kindle because of the easy access to the dictionary! I'm sad to admit that my vocabulary was sorely lacking trying to read this book. Part of that is because the book uses some slang and colloquialisms that the average non-British person wouldn't be familiar with, and me being American, I did have trouble with some of the dialogue in places. Still, beyond that, there were a lot of words I had to look up. It doesn't detract from the readability or the pace at all, I'm just a word-nerd and have to know what all the new ones mean, but I feel I had to mention it because I can see how it might be troubling for some readers.
One of the things I really liked about the book was the supporting characters. You really get to know them and they all have a solid connection to Findo, and a solid purpose in the book.
Overall, a fun, entertaining read with a unique main character, and an interesting look into a world that I would otherwise not have known about.
The story focuses on the title character, Findo Gask, a boy thief living life the only way he knows how, stealing, burgling, etc. While the book doesn't really apologize for his lifestyle, it does a lot to explain it, starting from his birth, the circumstances under which he grew up, and how he managed to infiltrate "normal" societal life as he matures.
The story got off to a little bit of a slow start, going into a police investigation of one of Findo's crimes, and then jumping back into Findo's birth and early development, but the pace picks up as Findo gets older and starts making friends and learning that there is an entire world out there wholly differently from his own.
I was actually really grateful I read this particular book on my Kindle because of the easy access to the dictionary! I'm sad to admit that my vocabulary was sorely lacking trying to read this book. Part of that is because the book uses some slang and colloquialisms that the average non-British person wouldn't be familiar with, and me being American, I did have trouble with some of the dialogue in places. Still, beyond that, there were a lot of words I had to look up. It doesn't detract from the readability or the pace at all, I'm just a word-nerd and have to know what all the new ones mean, but I feel I had to mention it because I can see how it might be troubling for some readers.
One of the things I really liked about the book was the supporting characters. You really get to know them and they all have a solid connection to Findo, and a solid purpose in the book.
Overall, a fun, entertaining read with a unique main character, and an interesting look into a world that I would otherwise not have known about.
November 11, 2012
I enjoyed this original and enlightening story by Huw Thomas.
Findo Gask is an almost Dickensian character that the reader can easily relate to, and his history is fascinating. Who could imagine what it must be like to grow up in this day and age without any legal identity whatsoever? Huw Thomas has taken this concept and given us a character who takes full advantage of his invisible status to build himself a spectacular career in crime. Findo is intelligent, imaginative and endearing and the situations in which he finds himself are cleverly constructed and thrillingly spectacular in their execution. With an excellent supporting cast of villains who appreciate his unusual talents, a police force that is unable to get their hands on such a slippery customer as Findo, and close friends and family who suport him, this is a well-rounded tale that many readers will enjoy.
My only reservation is that the book is too long, which does slow the pace somewhat.
Findo Gask is an almost Dickensian character that the reader can easily relate to, and his history is fascinating. Who could imagine what it must be like to grow up in this day and age without any legal identity whatsoever? Huw Thomas has taken this concept and given us a character who takes full advantage of his invisible status to build himself a spectacular career in crime. Findo is intelligent, imaginative and endearing and the situations in which he finds himself are cleverly constructed and thrillingly spectacular in their execution. With an excellent supporting cast of villains who appreciate his unusual talents, a police force that is unable to get their hands on such a slippery customer as Findo, and close friends and family who suport him, this is a well-rounded tale that many readers will enjoy.
My only reservation is that the book is too long, which does slow the pace somewhat.
March 20, 2013
Huw Thomas crafts a fine tale relying almost exclusively on Findo Gask to do his heavy lifting. There are elements of modern day David Copperfield at play in the novel, which focuses on the British societal underbelly having produced the titular character who uses his thieving gifts to survive, entertain himself and finally attempt to win the love of a woman. The story would have been greatly aided by some parallel plot lines (more dimensions) in place of some drawn out physical descriptions. Thomas is at his best when penning realistic dialogue and depicting the characters who comprise this deprived component of society where mere survival is such a prominent factor in day to day life. Overall a pleasant enough read. Huw Thomas is a capable, patient, and gifted writer.
October 6, 2013
5* Thoroughly entertaining story.
I enjoyed following Findo Gask’s tale so much I sought out other books by this author. Findo’s unconventional upbringing in the seamier side of London led to a cast of interesting characters and events. Master thief and dare devil – Findo is a character I will long remember.
I enjoyed following Findo Gask’s tale so much I sought out other books by this author. Findo’s unconventional upbringing in the seamier side of London led to a cast of interesting characters and events. Master thief and dare devil – Findo is a character I will long remember.
February 24, 2013
Enjoyed this - it reminded me of a teenagers book but that's not a bad thing. Thought the end was a bit rushed - I wanted to know what happened to his relationship with Abby. Though it would make a good TV series.
September 15, 2015
a good read. interesting escapes, and nobody ever comes to harm because of him, although there is a lot of damage done at times. not sure that this is the perfect ending, but two different people can't win the same prize when there is only one.
February 14, 2014
Gave this 3 stars when I read it some time ago, but have upped it to 4 as I find I do actually think about it from time to time. So must have made an impression, which is the sign of a good read
January 10, 2020
Awesome Indies Book Awards is pleased to include THE TALE OF FINDO GASK by HUW THOMAS in the library of Awesome Indies'
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews