Three Dollars — Elliot Perlman

Title: Three Dollars
Author: Elliot Perlman
Publisher: Picador (Pan Macmillan Australia)
ISBN: 0330360434
First Published: 1998

Condition: Good second-hand condition. Light shelf wear to covers. Pages clean with slight age toning. Binding solid.

Three Dollars is Elliot Perlman’s sharp and quietly devastating debut novel, following Eddie, an educated and principled man trying to hold onto dignity in a world that increasingly values profit over people.

Set against the economic shifts of the late 20th century, the novel traces Eddie’s life through cycles of work, unemployment, and survival—linked by his recurring encounters with a mysterious woman named Amanda. With only three dollars to his name at a turning point, the story becomes a study of class, luck, and moral endurance.

Perlman writes with restraint and precision, blending dry humour with social critique. The result is a deeply human novel about precariousness, relationships, and what it means to remain decent when the system isn’t.