'Extraordinary.' Marina Hyde 'An utter joy to read.' Monica Ali 'Majestic.' Independent 'A masterpiece.' John Lanchester 'Addictively enjoyable.' Guardian 'Sensational.' Irish Independent 'Pitch-perfect.' Observer

** Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction **

From the author of Mayflies, an irresistible, unputdownable, state-of-the-nation novel - the story of one man's epic fall from grace.

Campbell Flynn - art historian and celebrity pundit - is entering the empire of middle age. Fuelled by an appetite for controversy and novelty, he doesn't take people half as seriously as they take themselves. Which will prove the first of his huge mistakes.

The second? Milo Mangasha, his beguiling and provocative student. Milo inhabits a more precarious world. He has experiences and ideas that excite his teacher. He also has a plan.

Over the course of an incendiary year a web of secrets and crimes will be revealed, and Campbell Flynn may not be able to protect himself from the shattering exposure of all his privilege really involves. But then, he always knew: when his life came tumbling down, it would occur in public.