Mother, your boy is a loser. It’s possible that the object of most urgent desire thinks I’m a bird-nerd. And I suspect I might be competing for her affections with a dog she recently pashed…

A few months ago Dan had to make a choice. Go to Geneva with his parents for a year, board at school or move into a house with his 22-year-old bass-playing aunt, Jacq, and her friend, Naomi. He picked Jacq’s place. Now he’s doing his last year at school and trying not to spin out. Trying to master calculus. Trying to pick up a few skills for surviving in the adult world. Problem is, he falls for Naomi, and things become much more confusing. Pointed, sharp and very, very funny, 48 Shades of Brown tells the truth about being not quite seventeen - a time when everyone offers you advice, and nobody takes you seriously.