Alexander Starritt was born in Scotland in 1985. His debut novel The Beast was a 2017 Spectator book of the year; his second novel, We Germans, was published in 2020 and translated into six languages. It was awarded the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in the United States, and nominated for the Prix Femina, Prix Medicis and Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger in France. Starritt has also translated from German, including Stefan Zweig's A Chess Story, and a selection of Kafka's short stories, The Unhappiness of Being a Single Man.
'A romp through the 21st century via two bright young people - but beyond all the money and success Drayton and Mackenzie is really about friendship' - Laura Hackett, Sunday Times 'A big, bustling novel about love, friendship, money, ambition and the 21st century, packed with humour and intelligent observations ... picture Great Expectations meets The Big Short ... I finished it tear-stained ... An epic tale of ambition and male friendship' - Sunday Times 'Will have you hooked ... an ode to the enduring power of male friendship' - The Times Best Summer Books