Everything human beings do finishes up bad in the end. Everything good human beings ever make is built on something monstrous. Nothing lasts. We certainly won't . . .

William Carlisle has the world at his feet, but its weight on his shoulders. He is intelligent, articulate and f***ed. In the library of a grammar school, William and his fellow sixth-formers are preparing for their mock A-Levels while navigating the pressures of teenage life. They are educated and aspirational young people, but step-by-step, the dislocation, disjunction and latent aggression is...