William's Progress

Description

Remember William Walker? Hapless journalist and ineffectual romantic, who nearly ruined his marriage to the girl of his dreams through no fault of his own? Well, he's back. And this time he's got a baby. William Walker loves his gorgeous wife and new son - even if he did faint at the birth. What man wouldn't, after two whole days of labour and only one small sip of (medicinal) whiskey to sustain him? But now he's a father, and a proud one at that. It's just a shame that parenthood doesn't stop him doing the wrong thing at precisely the wrong time, with comically catastrophic results for his small - and increasingly exasperated - family. This hilarious romantic comedy will have you laughing out loud as William battles everything from floods to the Machiavellian denizens of a sinister Kentish village with more than a few hints of Royston Vasey...

Matt Rudd is senior writer at the Sunday Times. In the name of journalism, he has worn a short skirt in public, had a tour of a GBP300,000 lettuce shredder and stood outside Pippa Middleton's book launch for six hours in the freezing cold. In the name of this book, he has spent the last two years on the road with binoculars, a notebook and many Red Bulls. He lives in Kent with his family. Follow him @mattrudd.

Praise from William Walker's First Year of Marriage: 'Matt Rudd's sparklingly energetic, sometimes laugh-aloud, sometimes touching novel...mixes the accident-prone and amiable prattishness of Lucky Jim and Bridget Jones with a liberal dollop of farce....William turns out to be an innocent searching for the right path....Getting to know him is to enter into the blundering, puzzled hell of the male up against the eternal feminine enigma.' Elizabeth Buchan, Sunday Times 'Hilarious and hugely enjoyable. A frank, funny insight into what men really think about women and marriage.' Tracy Quan, author of Diary of a Jetssetting Call Girl 'Writing genius...the hilarious insights into a man's mind will make you laugh out loud' Cosmo 'Meet the male Bridget Jones. William's just married and has a view on everything from ex-girlfirends and wives to male best friends and work. But his luck takes a hilarious turn for the worse. Be prepared to LOL on the train. 5 stars' Company Magazine 'Matt Rudd's sparklingly energetic, sometimes laugh-aloud, sometimes touching novel gives us a further heads-up: actually, the Beast longs to be tamed.' The Sunday Times