‘A total joy’

Laura Kay, author of The Split

‘Hilarious and unexpectedly moving’

Richard Roper, author of Something to Live For

‘The perfect book for summer 2021’

James Bailey, author of The Flip Side

‘Brilliantly written, properly funny and poignant’

Tom Ellen, author of All About Us

‘A delightful and unique take on travel writing’

Katy Wix, author of Delicacy

The setting: Europe. A continent overrun by tourism, where tapas-crawlers cross paths with machine-gun-wielding cops, graffiti tour guides collide with anti-gentrification protestors and, in one classy mountain retreat, a bored patissier teaches mindful croissant-making to a bereaved luggage designer.

Witness to this outlandish international spectacle is Mark, comically self-conscious and often thoroughly disturbed by modern life. In his 30s and working as a copywriter for an online travel company despite never having personally ventured further than France, Mark is determined to make up for lost time by embarking on the kind of freewheeling summer expedition he’s always dreamed of. And even if his revered older cousin Paris is unable to join him on the trip, he’s determined not to let that hold him back. Mark can always email the mysteriously absent Paris about the homes and experiences he has along the way, in intricate and often hilarious detail.

Described by The Times as ‘one of the finest comic minds of Generation Y’, award-winning comedian Liam Williams brings his inimitable mix of humour and pathos to his unforgettable debut novel.