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An autobiographical novel of sex, love, family and friendship, conceived following the death of Martin Amis's closest friend, the incomparable Christopher Hitchens. From their early days as young magazine staffers in London, reviewing romantic entanglements and the latest literary gossip, not to mention ideas, books, and where to lunch, Hitch was Amis's wingman and adviser, especially in the matter of the alluringly amoral Phoebe Phelps - an obsession Amis must somehow put behind him if he is ever to find love, marriage and a plausible run at happiness. Other significant figures competing for his attention are his father Kingsley, his hero Saul Bellow, the weirdly self-finessing poet Philip Larkin, and significant literary women from Iris Murdoch to Elizabeth Jane Howard. His quest is a tender, witty exploration of how to live, grieve and die set against the horrors of the still-unfolding impact of the 9/11 attacks and what this has taught him about how to be a writer. Whether touching on Islamism, the Holocaust, the Jewish people, Alzheimer's, there is plenty of name dropping, sex, gossip, romance and a taste of the mid 20th century literary world. Includes photos, 538 roughcut pages, highly desirable in this US edition.