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WINNER OF THE WHITBREAD FIRST NOVEL AWARD

‘A writer with a poet’s eye for convincing detail.’ Sunday Telegraph
‘A funny, knowing tale of middle-class, middle-twenties angst … Cool, resonant, and accomplished.’ Independent
‘Told with irony and insight and some surreally beautiful imagery. At times it made me laugh out loud.’ Sheila MacKay

Agnes Day – sub-editor, suburbanite, failure extraordinaire – has discovered disconcerting gaps in her general understanding of the world. Terminally middle-class and incurably romantic, Agnes finds herself chronically confused by the most basic interactions. Life and love go on without her, but with a little facade she can pass herself off as a success. Beneath the fiction, however, the burden of truth becomes harder to bear.