Alienation and adultery, Pampers and plagiarism, and lashings of sex and satire in a brilliantly funny first novel

A wincingly entertaining portrayal of academe with its pants down. And a reminder that when things are at their worst they're also at their funniest Liz Jensen Hugely entertaining The Times Covering familiar territory in this sardonic academic novel, McGuire wittily exposes his characters' pretensions and frustrations ... Outwitted and exploited at every step of the way, Gutman and his story are at once very funny and disconcertingly sad Sunday Times

Ian McGuire grew up near Hull and studied at the University of Manchester and the University of Virginia, USA. He is a founder and co-director of the University of Manchester's Centre for New Writing. His stories have been published in the Chicago Review, Paris Review and elsewhere. He is the author of Incredible Bodies (2006) and, most recently, the acclaimed The North Water.