Talking it over - Julian Barnes

From the winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction comes a novel of profound insight and comic flare.

Shy, sensible banker Stuart has trouble with women; that is, until a fortuitous singles night, where he meets Gillian, a picture restorer recovering from a destructive affair.

Stuart's best friend Oliver is his complete opposite - a language teacher who 'talks like a dictionary', brash and feckless.

Soon Stuart and Gillian are married, but it is not long before a tentative friendship between the three evolves into something far different.

Talking it Over is a brilliant and intimate account of love's vicissitudes.

It begins as a comedy of errors, then slowly darkens and deepens, drawing us compellingly into the quagmires of the heart.