Never before published in the United States, the debut novel by the wildly talented author of Booker Prize Finalist All That Man Is “That clattering noise you hear is the sound of critics and readers racing to find [David Szalay’s] earlier books, an activity worth the effort,” wrote Dwight Garner in his New York Times review of Szalay’s All That Man Is . And now American readers finally have their chance with his debut novel, London and the South-East . Paul Rainey, the hapless antihero at the center of this “compulsively readable” ( Independent on Sunday ) story works, miserably, in ad sales. He sells space in magazines that hardly exist, and through a fog of booze and drugs dimly perceives that he is dissatisfied with his life―professionally, sexually, recreationally, the whole nine yards. If only there were something he could do about it―and “something” seems to fall into his lap when a meeting with an old friend and fellow salesman, Eddy Jaw, leads to the offer of a new job. But when that offer turns out to be as misleading as Paul’s own sales patter, his life is transformed in ways very much more peculiar than he ever thought possible. London and the South-East , which won the Betty Trask Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, is both a gloriously told shaggy-dog story about the compromising inanities of office life and consumer culture, and the perfect introduction to one of the best writers at work today. “[A] dark, antic satire. . . . Szalay is a barbed observer of office life, and his study is most scathing when inspecting the perils of extracting self-worth from work.” ― The New Yorker “ London and the South-East is a stunningly accomplished debut novel. Szalay's moods, tones and range of situations manage to be scabrously funny or desperately grim. . . . It is here, in this brilliant bittersweet tragicomedy, Szalay first showcased his prodigious capabilities.”― Star Tribune (Minneapolis) “Watch for many twists and turns in this fiendishly plotted page-turner.” ― Library Journal , starred review “[A] devastatingly observant novel. . . . Written with intense psychological acuity and inventive detail.” ― Publishers Weekly “[A] nuanced portrait of desire and its discontents. . . . Szalay writes with real heart about his protagonist―a man lost in the middle of his own existence.” ― Kirkus Reviews David Szalay was born in Canada in 1974. His first novel, London and the South-East , won the Betty Trask Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. His second novel, The Innocent , was published by Jonathan Cape in 2009. He lives in London. London and the South-East A Novel By David Szalay GRAYWOLF PRESS Copyright © 2008 David Szalay All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-55597-793-1 CHAPTER 1 Dieter Flossman has been on Paul's mind a lot these last few days. Managing his software firm in Stuttgart, it is unlikely that he thinks about Paul at all when they are not actually speaking on the phone. Paul, on the other hand, thinks about Dieter all the time. While he waits on the platform of Hove station in the morning; throughout the slow, stopping journey; when he sinks to the Underground at London Bridge, and when he is lifted out of it at Holborn, Dieter is foremost in his thoughts. Exactly a week ago, with very little fuss, after a single short, sharp pitch, he sold him a full-page, full-colour ad in the automation systems software section of European Procurement Management. (Dieter did not know, of course, that his ad would be the automation systems software section of European Procurement Management. ) Paul faxed him an agreement form, which Dieter said he would sign in time for the positioning of his ad to be discussed at Paul's 'pagination meeting' at the end of the afternoon. Paul went to the Penderel's Oak. It was his first sale in some time. On Monday morning, the fax was not there. A quick call to Dieter elicited an apology, and an assurance that he would send it through immediately. A further call, towards the middle of the afternoon, and Dieter's secretary, Frau Koch, said that she thought Herr Doktor Flossman had already signed the fax, and that she would send it as soon as she had a minute. She took down Paul's fax number. The next morning, there was still no fax. And then Dieter seemed to disappear for a few days. Paul was calling him so much he knew his fourteen-digit number without having to look it up. Every day, the first thing he did when he arrived at work was phone Dieter. Dieter was never there, only the severe Frau Koch. Herr Doktor Flossman, she said, is always busy. If he has something to say to Herr Doktor Flossman, he should put it in an email or a fax. Frantic, Paul got Elvezia to phone pretending to be his secretary. He got Murray to phone pretending to be his boss. He tried to flirt with the impervious Frau Koch, and when that did not work, stabbed the white mute key with his finger and unleashed a stream of obscenities. 'You fucking f