The Paper Lovers - Hardcover

Gerard Woodward is the author of a number of novels, including Nourishment and an acclaimed trilogy comprising of August (shortlisted for the 2001 Whitbread First Novel Award), I'll Go to Bed at Noon (shortlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize), and A Curious Earth. He published several prize-winning collections of poetry before turning to fiction. His collection of poetry, We Were Pedestrians, was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. He is Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.

Woodward is an agile writer * TLS * A mordantly ironic novel . . . Paper, we're reminded at one point, has an edge, and there are plenty of those to Woodward's discomforting tale * Daily Mail * The wry truths that Woodward teases from the ensuing identity crises are universal in their poignancy * Mail on Sunday * Gerard Woodward is one of our finest writers . . . he writes with subtlety and skill * Daily Telegraph * Woodward's prose has a rare and wondrous texture that comes from his ongoing play between the comedic and tragic moments of his characters' lives. The Paper Lovers is a beautifully wrought narrative with a devastating ending - an intimate exploration of requited and unrequited desire in all its forms. I couldn't put it down till I was done, and then I wanted to laugh and cry all at once, at the sheer absurdity of being human. An epic novel that should draw comparisons with Greene's The End of the Affair. -- Nikita Lalwani, author of The Village Hugely enjoyable, a unique love story that's both witty and poignant. -- John Boyne, author of The Heart's Invisible Furies What really makes this book so impressive and enjoyable is the writing, whether it is Woodward's occasional tongue-in-cheek similes or his convincing insights into all manner of things * Sunday Times * Among his many gifts is Woodward's extraordinary skill in taking all the big themes - sex, truth, faith, obsession, existential crisis, the works! - and wrapping them up with such deft lightness of touch that the pages all but turn themselves. This is contemporary family drama at its most compelling, and with a brutally exquisite ending. -- Nathan Filer, author of The Shock of the Fall