About the Author

Simon Stephenson is the author of the award-winning Let Not the Waves of the Sea (2012), a memoir about the loss of his brother in the Indian Ocean tsunami.  He works as a screenwriter in both the UK and the US, and his credits include the forthcoming Amazon film 'Louis Wain', starring Benedict Cumberbatch. This is his first novel.

Reviews

‘[A] laugh-out-loud funny debut novel … absurdist, outrageous, irreverent and satirical… by the end of Jared’s adventures, readers will find themselves left with … an appreciation for the mutuality of all sentient life, and for the universal desire to be acknowledged and appreciated, whether one is birthed from factory or hospital … In Stephenson, Vonnegut may have his first true protégé.’ Washington Post ‘I doubt I’ll encounter a more endearing, more joy-provoking character this year’ The Bookseller, Book of the Month ‘A truly hilarious, clever, and strangely affecting meditation on the absurdity of Homo sapiens….I cried 67ml of tears’ Saga Magazine ‘Funny, original and thought-provoking’ Daily Mail ‘It is the closest thing I’ve read in a long time to Terry Pratchett … You will read this with unadulterated pleasure’ Scotland On Sunday ‘This beguiling debut exposes our frailties with subversive humour’ Mail on Sunday ‘Genuinely funny … pacey and emotive’ Sunday Times ‘Only the truly heartless would deny the art at work here’ The Herald ‘This entertaining and surprisingly poignant story is a charmer’ Publisher’s Weekly