Don’t read the blub; just read the first page.
Leonard and Hungry Paul are both in their mid-thirties. Leonard still lives in his mother’s house, years after she passed away, and Paul still lives with his parents. Neither of them have ever quite felt like they’ve found their place in the world. But Paul’s younger sister is getting married and leaving home, and Leonard, for the first time in his life, realises that he’s falling in love with someone.

This book is a quiet marvel. It swept me off my feet completely. I had to text my colleagues about how good it was at half ten at night. I couldn’t read it in my room on my own but had to go and sit in the living room and read snippets out to my flatmate because they just begged to be shared. This is the humble, understated king of character fiction. A celebration of the ordinary, a revelation in the wonder of the everyday, a quirky, lovely ride and the perfect choice when you need your faith in humanity restored. A gin and tonic of a book.
My copy is now falling apart at the seams because of how often I return to it. Nearly five years on, I have yet to find anything so subtly layered and so brilliantly funny as this. A whole lifetime lies between the lines on the page.