'As brilliantly nuanced as Updike's Rabbit sequence, and as sad as anything by Fitzgerald' Nick Hornby, Guardian This is the story of Frank and April Wheeler, a bright, beautiful, and talented couple whose empty suburban life is held together by the dream that greatness is only just round the corner.With heart-breaking compassion and clarity, Richard Yates shows how Frank and April mortgage their hopes and ideals, betraying in the end not only each other, but their own best selves.

One of the greatest American novels of the twentieth century, Richard Yate's universally acclaimed debut novel is a masterful portrait of East Coast life in 1950s suburbia.

This is the story of Frank and April Wheeler, a bright, beautiful, and talented couple whose empty suburban life is held together by the dream that greatness is only just round the corner.

With heart-breaking compassion and clarity, Yates shows how Frank and April mortgage their hopes and ideals, betraying in the end not only each other, but their own best selves.

'As brilliantly nuanced as Updike's Rabbit sequence, and as sad as anything by Fitzgerald' Nick Hornby, Guardian