From a rising young novelist comes an artful meditation on love and life in contemporary London. When David Pinner introduces his former teacher, the American artist Ruth Marks, to his friend and flatmate James Glover, he unwittingly sets in place a love triangle loaded with tension, guilt and heartbreak. As David plays reluctant witness (and more) to James and Ruth's escalating love affair, he must come to terms with his own blighted emotional life. Set in the London art scene awash with new money and intellectual pretension, in the sleek galleries and posh restaurants of a Britannia resurgent with cultural and economic power, Nick Laird's insightful and drolly satirical novel vividly portrays three people whose world gradually fractures along the fault lines of desire, truth and jealousy. With wit and compassion, Laird explores the very nature of contemporary romance, among damaged souls whose hearts and heads never quite line up long enough for them to achieve true happiness.

Praise for 'Utterly Monkey': ' Utterly Monkey is the real thing; a novel rich in both achievement and promise, by a writer who can actually write.' Jane Shilling, The Times 'Funny, good-humoured and deftly written.' James Walton, Daily Telegraph 'Fluently written, ebulliently implausible, Nick Laird's fiction debut is an entertaining mix of thriller and comedy of misfortunes.' Independent on Sunday ' Utterly Monkey is an extraordinarily accomplished novel, by a confident and eloquent voice, filled with humour and insights.' Sunday Times 'Part caper movie, part coming-of-age story, part urban satire, Monkey introduces a writer with a wonderfully original and limber voice -- a writer who seems able to jump genres as easily as he shifts narrative gears.' Michiko Kakutani, New York Times 'Exquisitely written and extremely entertaining.' Charlie Lee Potter, Mail on Sunday 'Laird has earned his place on the writers' catwalk. Expect to hear much more from this season's smash hit.' Belfast Telegraph 'Laird paces the story well, and shows his poetry roots with some arresting imagery.This is a debut with humour and a heart.' Marie Claire 'A sharp and funny debut.' Eve

Nick Laird was born in Northern Ireland in 1975, and studied at Cambridge and Harvard. He is the author of two collections of poetry and the acclaimed novel Utterly Monkey. He currently teaches creative writing at Columbia University in New York.