James Hawes' fourth novel takes his not-quite-innocent heroine, Jane Feverfew, on a comic journey from the eccentrities of Wales into the unholy Soho movie world.

Harry is 40 today. As his life unravels in drugs, death and unrequited love, his friend, Ben, realises that when you've been adults for longer than between Hitler and the Beatles, it really is time to grow up.

Set in the world that he has made his own - that of middle-class Englishmen struggling with the mortgage, low self-esteem and dreams of sash windows - this is James Hawes at his sharpest and funniest.