The hilarious Man Booker-longlisted novel from the author of Darkmans Nicola Barker. 2006 is a foreign country; they do things differently there. Tiger Woods reputation is entirely untarnished & the English Defence League does not exist yet. Stormclouds of a different kind are gathering above the bar of Lutons less than exclusive Thistle Hotel. Among those caught up in the unfolding drama are a man whos had cancer seven times a woman priest with an unruly fringe the troubled family of a notorious local fascist an interfering barmaid with three Es at A-level but a Ph D in bullshit a free-thinking Muslim sex therapist & his considerably more pious wife. But at the heart of every intrigue & the bottom of every mystery is the repugnantly charismatic Stuart Ransom
- a golfer in free-fall. Nicola Barkers Man Booker-longlisted novel The Yips at once a historical novel of the pre-Twitter moment the filthiest state-of-the-nation novel since Martin Amiss Money & the most flamboyant piece of comic fiction ever to be set in Luton.