Can I explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower block?' For disgraced
TV presenter Martin Sharp the answer's pretty simple: he has, in his own words,
'pissed his life away'. And on New Year's Eve he's going to end it all . . . but
not, as it happens, alone. Because first single-mum Maureen, then
eighteen-year-old Jess and lastly American rock-god JJ turn up and crash
Martin's private party. They've stolen his idea - but brought their own reasons.
Yet it's hard to jump when you've got an audience queuing impatiently behind
you. A few heated words and some slices if cold pizza later and these four
strangers are suddenly allies. But is their unlikely friendship a good enough
reason to carry on living? Shortlisted for the 2005 Whitbread Award and the
Commonwealth Writers Prize, A Long Way Down is a darkly hilarious and moving
novel by bestselling author Nick Hornby.