Goodness, this didn't read like a debut. So damn accomplished. So rude. (I don't mind rude at all, just a warning to those who might.) Will was a character I loved to hate, sleeping around, but upset when his partners (who he claims to be in love with) do the same. I kept hoping he would get his comeupppance, and he almost does, but not quite.

It's set in 1983, just before AIDS really took hold - what a different world London must have been just a year or so later. Aside from the extravagant amount of sex, it's not an extraordinary story, there's lots of sitting around in flats and going down the 'Corry' for a swim and a shower, but somehow (by the skill of Hollinghurst) I was hooked. It was the first book of his I've read, and I'll certainly be reading more.