A stunning debut novel combining coming-of-age with philosophy

'A book of tremendous originality: funny, clever and hugely beguiling' William Boyd

'Intellectually rigorous ... fun and charming' Observer

Fifteen-year-old Ben Warner has a mundane summer job working in the local fish-and-chip shop. Then Lila arrives. She invites him to visit her in the World of Ideas, where she hopes to help Socrates win a bet with his arch-rival Wittgenstein: he and Lila must prove to Ben that philosophy can change his life for the better.

So begins a mind-bending guided tour of the big and small questions in life, but will Socrates and Lila be able to convince Ben that the unexamined life is not worth living?