First, do lottery wins estrange us from our friends? Darren Bloke’s fate seems plausible: his friends kept asking him for money, leading him to feel exploited and them to accuse him of meanness. A lot of people win big prizes on the lottery, enough to allow us to draw more subtle - and less tragic - conclusions. If only the spirit of John Ruskin had been there to save them all.īut while these cautionary tales offer us a moralistic narrative arc that sticks in the memory, they aren’t necessarily typical. The Guardian explains that Michael Carroll, self-proclaimed “king of chavs”, was declared bankrupt just eight years after winning nearly £10mn - while Lee Ryan ended up sleeping rough, and spending time in jail for handling stolen cars, despite winning £6.5mn. He was living in a storage unit within five years, and died penniless. He won $27mn in 2001, spent it on drugs, fast cars and a Learjet. The Courier Journal tells the tale of David Lee Edwards from Ashland, Kentucky. But Darren’s tale made me wonder: is this what happens to people who win the lottery? A glance at the newspapers suggests that it is. Ruskin’s insights deserve a separate column - or a book. In Bloke’s Progress, Darren is saved by conversations with the spirit of the Victorian sage John Ruskin. His money is soon gone, and so, too, are his family and friends. He divorces his wife and marries a new woman. He hangs out with a richer crowd but feels out of place. Then he wins the lottery - and his troubles truly begin.įirst, Darren becomes estranged from his friends, who keep pestering him for money. He has a tedious job, a grinding commute, squalling children and too many bills to pay.

At the start of the graphic novel Bloke’s Progress, our everyday hero Darren Bloke isn’t coping with the everyday stresses of life.

The lottery novel