ABOUT
THE BOOK

He has had a full life. Now, in his later years, retired, his second wife getting on his nerves, his love affairs a distant – yet piquant – memory, there are a few things he wants to get off his chest. One man’s hilarious, heartrending ruminations, addressed to a son he cannot understand, make up this extraordinary first novel from the author of Art.
As he talks, we are introduced to his too-happy wife, Nancy; his housekeeper, Mrs. Dacimiento (who still can’t fit the bag properly over the rim of the rubbish bin); his reassuringly anguished friend Lionel; his daughter and her husband, an enthusiastic member of the Jewish Ramblers; and Marisa Botton, his idiotic, irresistible mistress. Until finally a chance encounter with an old friend, and a story she tells, lead him to his final overtures…