This is the continuing lurid story of Natalie Klein and her eccentric collection of associates, namely the clergyman next door, who can’t stand any noise and whose children turn to crime and drugs, the Frenchman who knocks out the clergyman’s two front teeth, the twin brothers who fight in the hall, while Natalie pops amphetamines and talks at length about Russian literature when she is doing so, and her sister, Hilary, who goes to great lengths to stop her taking amphetamines.

In Too Much Bloody Noise we meet more unforgettable characters through the clergyman, such as the Rocker who never uses the definite article, and who can’t stop making rock ‘n’ roll movements as he talks; the beauty the clergyman falls in love with; and her foul-tempered, crazy Irish undertaker father, McManus, who tries to bring him into the business.