Dr Nicholas Carver, a university academic, and part-time reader for a literary agency is assessing a young man's first novel, The Agent. As an experiment he tries - disastrously - to try out this intriguing book with his students. It's not only his job that's in trouble, but - even worse - his marriage.
With awesome threats to his love, his life and friendships, he now has to take dramatic action on all fronts.This is a swiftly moving comedy, which looks deeply, and movingly, at the intricate connections between literature and real-life despair and love.