Worth

(Paperback)

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Description

'An acute and very funny novel about the perils of rural life' - Daily Mail Worth is a fast-paced and touching comedy about how escaping the rat-race isn't all it's cracked up to be. Richard and Sarah meet in London, fall in love, and after some complications, marry. To escape the rat-race - and their ex-partners - they decide to move to the countryside, and buy a cottage in the pretty Suffolk village of Worth. At first, they struggle to find friends, but then they meet Catherine, who's recently moved into the cottage next door. As a single woman, she admires their love for each other. As a couple, they admire her uncompromising nature. On weekday nights in sleepy Worth, with nothing to do, the trio's pastime is each other. A delightful friendship ensues. But there are things to Catherine that don't add up. Topics avoided, questions unanswered. She describes a manipulative but never-seen sister, who she says is making her life hell. Richard and Sarah offer advice as best they can, but they are starting to feel uneasy. The rural idyll is beginning to fade. With Richard struggling to find work, Sarah, who's pregnant, takes a job with a woman she meets at a conference - a connection that draws the couple deeper into the life of their neighbour - far deeper than they could ever have imagined. Worth is about friendship, family and the perils of loving your neighbor. It is a fast-paced, wildly entertaining and blackly comic new novel from the inimitable Jon Canter.

Reviews

He is arguably the finest comic novelist working in Britain today. Indeed, he may just be the finest comic anything working in Britain right now... Canter's prose is achingly funny...it is also vital, acute, literary and oddly moving. -- James Kidd * Independent *
Brilliantly good - so precise and well-observed and witty, and also one of the few books I've ever read that manages to be both tense and funny -- Craig Brown
Hilarious... Smart, confident and, in places, eye wateringly upfront -- Elizabeth Buchan * Sunday Times *
Powered by Jon Canter's sharp and original wit and his constantly fizzing prose...an acute and very funny novel about the perils of rural life and of falling a little bit in love with your next-door neighbour * Daily Mail *
As an advertisement for either urban or rural living among self-satisfied characters, Worth is a toe-curling horror story; as a cheeky and well-directed poke in said characters' eyes, it's a winner * Independent on Sunday *

Author Bio

Jon Canter is the author of two previous novels, Seeds of Greatness and A Short Gentleman, both of them adapted for BBC Radio 4. He has also written stand-up comedy, TV and radio scripts for many of Britain's most prominent comedians, and comment pieces for the Guardian.