This was my first read of a Mike Gayle novel and I was impressed. Author Mike Gayle has a crafty gift for character development and story telling. The book drew me in so much that I finished it in a few hours on a cross-country flight! It is a shame that it sat on my shelf for so many months before I got to it.

In this novel that is set in the U.K., we follow two love birds Jim and Alison through a friendship, romance and break-up as they each tell their own side of the story. Jim and Allison first meet at a party for freshers (beginning university students). Mike Gayle captures both the male and female voices perfectly and fashions a tale that has you vacillating between feeling for Alison, while still wishing Jim well. Brought back together by the death of a jointly shared cat, Jim and Alison have both gone on with their lives, but are driven to reflect on their relationship and its demise.