Blake Morrison’s new novel is entertaining, well written and acute in its observations of struggling writers and their wives. To my relief, though written by a novelist who is also a poet, it is not “poetic”, but has a straightforward narrative with a sparing use of similes and only one or two delicate descriptions of the weather.
The story tells how Matt Holmes, the assistant editor on the books pages of a liberal newspaper – presumably The Guardian or The Independent, where Morrison worked as literary editor
