'Are we making a bomb?'
'This is a trust exercise, like in drama,' she says.
'Are we making a bomb as a trust exercise?'

Fifteen-year-old Oliver Tate is terrified that his family is falling apart. He fears for his depressed father and is convinced that his mother is having an affair with her capoeira teacher. Deciding that it is down to him alone to save his parents' marriage, Oliver sets out on a campaign to rescue it while also embarking on an even more ambitious goal: to lose his virginity before he's sixteen to the seductive but slightly pyromaniacal Jordana . . .

'The sharpest, funniest, rudest account of a troubled teenager's coming of age since The Catcher in the Rye' Independent

'A brilliant first novel by a young man of ferocious comic talent' The Times

A funny, fresh coming-of-age story, now a Penguin Essential.

About the Author

Joe Dunthorne was born and brought up in Swansea. He is the author of Submarine, which has been translated into fifteen languages and made into an acclaimed film directed by Richard Ayoade, and Wild Abandon, which won the 2012 Encore Award. A collection of his poetry is published as Faber New Poets 5. Joe Dunthorne lives in London and The Adulterants is his third novel.

www.joedunthorne.com

Reviews
A brilliant first novel by a young man of ferocious comic talent * The Times *
Dunthorne captures the mores of Britain today better than novelists twice his age * New Statesman *
Brilliant . . . laugh-out-loud enjoyable. The sharpest, funniest, rudest account of a troubled teenager's coming-of-age since The Catcher in the Rye * Independent *
Transplants The Catcher in the Rye to south Wales . . . Dunthorne can make you laugh like you did during double physics on a wet Wednesday afternoon * Observer *
A richly amusing tale of mock GCSEs, sex, death and challenging vocabulary . . . Excruciatingly funny incidents and cracking gags * Time Out *
Excellent . . . the wonderful, Day-Glo certainties of adolescence have rarely been so brilliantly laid out * Independent on Sunday *
Dunthorne captures the mores of Britain today better than novelists twice his age. He is sure to write books that declare more than their vocabulary * New Statesman *


Awards
Short-listed for Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize. Long-listed for Desmond Elliott Prize.



Book Information
ISBN 9780241986462
Author Joe Dunthorne
Format Paperback
Page Count 304
Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 167g
Dimensions(mm) 181mm * 111mm * 18mm