The hilarious Man Booker-longlisted novel from the author of 'Darkmans' and 'The Burley Cross Postbox Theft'. 2006 is a foreign country; they do things differently there. Tiger Woods' reputation is entirely untarnished and the English Defence League does not exist.

But storm-clouds are gathering above the bar of the less-than-exclusive Thistle Hotel in Luton. Among those caught up in the unfolding drama are a man who's survived cancer seven times, a woman priest with an unruly fringe, the troubled family of a notorious local fascist, an interfering barmaid with three E's at A-level but a PhD in bullshit, a free-thinking Muslim sex therapist and his considerably more pious wife. But at the heart of every intrigue and the bottom of every mystery is the repugnantly charismatic Stuart Ransom - a golf star in free-fall.