"Pins you in your armchair ad won't let go..."How to be Good?" How to be bloody marvellous, more like". ("Mail on Sunday"). "It does exactly what it says on the cover. Hornby's prose is artful and effortless, his spiky wit as razored as a number-two cut". ("Independent"). "The writing is so funny, and the set-pieces so brilliant...Hornby's best book since Fever Pitch". (Lynn Truss, "The Times"). Nick Hornby has captivated readers and achieved widespread critical acclaim for his comic, well-observed novels "About a Boy", "A Long Way Down", "Juliet, Naked", "Slam" and "High Fidelity". His three works of non-fiction, "31 Songs" (shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award), "Fever Pitch" (winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award) and "The Complete Polysyllabic Spree" are also available from Penguin.

Nick Hornby was born in 1957 and worked as a teacher before becoming a full-time writer. He is the author of six novels: High Fidelity, About a Boy, How to be Good, A Long Way Down, Slam (a YA novel) and Juliet, Naked; three works of non-fiction: Fever Pitch, 31 Songs and The Complete Polysyllabic Spree; and a book of short stories, Otherwise Pandemonium. He has also written the screenplay for two films: Fever Pitch and An Education. He lives in north London.