Poor souls

Barry and Susan are married, and would hate each other, if only they could be bothered. Gavin and Moira are also married, and they hate each other quite openly. Barry's a failed editor ('The Big One', his pet book, never quite came off) and he drinks too much. Gavin? Well, Gavin's got a job too boring to talk about, but no doubt he will. Moira cooks dinner parties and has a very peculiar way of looking after her husband. Susan simply doesn't know what she wants. Then there's Hilary. Single mother Hilary wears a kimono when cooking with a wok and is quite her own man. And what about Annie, who loves Barry - and Barry says, between drinks, it isn't just an office fling, he loves her, he really loves her. Joseph Connolly's unnervingly entertaining first novel takes place during one appalling week in 1985. His characters are Thatcher's poor lost souls, fuelled by booze and loathing. Wickedly funny, wickedly readable, this is a darkly comic novel from one of today's most gifted writers.