Passing Go

On the high ground above the great city, Roy and Helen live in brittle affluence inside a weary marriage. Of their four children, three have long vanished into the sprawling, sluttish metropolis beneath: Marcus the dotcom entrepreneur, Shona the shocking Britart princess, and Danny - the one nobody will talk about.

But the last child Zack itches to know more about his lost brother; and gets his chance when the smooth surfaces of family life are abruptly blown apart. Roy is sacked on his fiftieth birthday, stages an unconventional protest in the office doorway and rapidly finds himself a homeless exile in the city's darkest streets. It is Zack's chance to escape down the hill in turn, while his mother Helen makes a bizarre decision of her own.

“'Urban life depicted in a most revealing way'”

'tender, funny insightful . . . warm, clever and thought-provoking' The Big Issue

A whirlwind of contemporary social issues . . . an extreme and entertaining picture of modern urban life. How Libby Purves manages to weave all this into a comedy, I don't know. But she does. - Philippa Boston, Daily Mail

An author who tackles difficult contemporary issues with insight and compassion. Expect the unexpected in PASSING GO, a tale for our times. - West Lancashire Evening Gazette

Humorous and touching - Good Housekeeping

Libby Purves has excelled herself with this portrait of a dysfunctional clan, which is as full of sharp observations, insight and humour as her readers will have come to expect - Christina Koning, Times

Purves ties up this tale with her usual skill . . . a modern fable with an old-fashioned message of tolerance and humanity at its core. - Play

Both comic and poignant, the late of the magnificently dysfunctional Keaney family - West Lancashire Evening Gazette

Urban life depicted in a most revealing way - Manchester Evening News

Libby Purves is a novelist, journalist and broadcaster. She presents 'Midweek' on Radio 4, and is a columnist on The Times. She has written four novels for Hodder & Stoughton.

On the high ground above the great city, Roy and Helen live in brittle affluence inside a weary marriage. Of their four children, three have long vanished into the sprawling, sluttish metropolis beneath: Marcus the dotcom entrepreneur, Shona the shocking Britart princess, and Danny - the one nobody will talk about.But the last child Zack itches to know more about his lost brother; and gets his chance when the smooth surfaces of family life are abruptly blown apart. Roy is sacked on his fiftieth birthday, stages an unconventional protest in the office doorway and rapidly finds himself a homeless exile in the city's darkest streets. It is Zack's chance to escape down the hill in turn, while his mother Helen makes a bizarre decision of her own.

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