While marooned at his banking job in the bewilderingly damp and insular realm known as Ireland, Claude Martingale is approached by a down-on-his-luck author, Paul, looking for his next great subject. Claude finds that his life gets steadily more exciting under Paul's fictionalizing influence; he even falls in love with a beautiful waitress.

Winner of the Everyman Wodehouse Prize 2016

A comic masterpiece about love, art, greed and the banking crisis, by the Booker Prize-shortlisted author of The Bee Sting

'Hugely entertainingly [and] read-the-whole-page-again funny . . . The best novel I have reviewed this side of the Atlantic' Observer

Meet Claude: an investment-bank drone longing for something more meaningful. Marooned in soggy Dublin, he yearns for art, philosophy, and a steady girlfriend. You could call him a modern-day everyman - or just another lonely banker.

Now meet Paul: struggling novelist, strip-club enthusiast, pioneer of not-entirely-legal internet start-ups. Paul is willing to stoop to any level in pursuit of the riches he knows he deserves. You could call him a troubled genius - or a shameless crook.

Here are two men with something missing from their lives. they might just be able to help each other out of a big hole. Or their friendship might be the most disastrous thing to hit Dublin since the banking crash. As Paul's get-rich-quick schemes blow up in his face, and the global economy goes missing in action, will Claude be able to save the day, get the girl, and finally become the hero of his own story?

'Brilliant, intricately entertaining . . . This novel's arrival deserves a trumpeting fanfare' Sunday Independent

'A comic classic from one of the most gifted novelists of his generation. Funny, angry and unputdownable' Daily Express