Stepping Out

Harold Cummings has led a good life – honest, cautious, prudent.Now retired, financially secure and terminally bored, he asks himself –where are my rewards? When his wife Millie is called away for a few daysHarold slowly begins to unravel. Starting with small incidents of riskyand uncharacteristic behaviour, he quickly spirals into a no-holds-barredencounter with the seamy underworld of the city he calls home. Haroldcareens shockingly and comically into a world without handrails, onethat he finds terrifying but strangely compelling. As he is drawn into theambit of a young hooker and her child, and into encounters with drugdealers and a violent pimp, Harold is forced to confront his demons headon. He must find the means to reverse his slide into self-destruction andrediscover grace in the choices he has made.By turns funny, sad, chilling and provocative, Stepping Out continuesthe dark and humorous intellectual explorations of Sidley’s acclaimeddebut novel, Entanglement.