The Sound of No Hands Clapping

When even his friends refer to him as ‘a balding, bug-eyed opportunist with the looks of a beach ball, the charisma of a glove-puppet and an ego the size of a Hercules supply plane’, the odds of Toby Young scoring—in any sense—appear to be slim. But then How To Lose Friends And Alienate People, his memoir about failing to take Manhattan, becomes an international bestseller. Now Tinseltown beckons. After receiving a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity from a Hollywood producer, Toby sets his sights anew on a high-flying career, this time on the West Coast. But it doesn’t take long for Toby’s self-sabotaging instincts to reassert themselves. On the home front, though, things are looking up: Toby persuades his girlfriend to marry him and move to Los Angeles—but then she decides to abandon her promising legal career in order to become a full-time housewife … and mother. Toby’s hapless attempts to pursue a glamorous showbiz career while buried in nappies will strike a chord with all modern fathers struggling to find the right work/life balance … and with their exasperated wives. Failure—and fatherhood—have never been funnier.