This hilarious novel explores the twin jungles of sexual liberation and office politics in the heady world of 1960s London publishing

Their troubled courtship long behind them, Jenny Bunn and Patrick Standish have settled into London life. Patrick works in publishing and Jenny teaches sick children in a hospital. They have reached a certain level of maturity, or so they think. It is not long before they realize their respectability will be severely tested by seductive neighbours with a taste for whisky, the sexually confused Ted Valentine, and the literary set of Hampstead.

In this funny and provocative study of a young couple growing up, Amis shows us that the difficulty with marriage is that it’s so hard to preserve, especially when Patrick and Jenny harbour deep yearnings for a different kind of life.