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Their Lips Talk of Mischief , Alan Warner´s first novel with Faber, is a darkly comic tale of hope and humanity against the grim urban and political landscape of Margaret Thatcher´s Britain

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High up in the Conrad Flats that loom bleakly over Acton, two future stars of the literary scene - or so they assume - are hard at work, tapping out words of wit and brilliance between ill-paid jobs writing captions for the Cat Calendar 1985 and blurbs for trashy novels with titles like Brothel of the Vampire . Just twenty-one but already well entrenched in a life eked out on dole payments, pints and dollops of porridge and pasta, Llewellyn and Cunningham don´t have it too bad: a pub on the corner, a misdirected parental allowance, and the delightful company of Aoife, Llewellyn´s model fiancée, mother of his young baby - and the woman of Cunningham´s increasingly vivid dreams.

Alan Warner´s superb new novel sees the author of Morvern Callar at the top of his game.

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[G]litteringly explosive ... the perfect summer read. The Times

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