Flesh

István is fifteen and has just moved with his mother into a quiet flat in a small Hungarian town. He is awkward and friendless at school, and the only person who pays him attention is the married woman next door, who is nearly as old as his mother. What starts between them is something he can hardly name, and when it goes badly wrong he ends up in a youth detention centre. Afterwards he enlists, fights in Iraq and carries the loss of a comrade with him. In London he finds work on the door of a club, then driving and guarding a wealthy family, and is lifted by the money and influence of the new century while his hunger for love, sex, standing and riches pulls him in several directions at once. Whatever happens, he tends to answer okay.

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About the book

Form

Novel

Set in

Hungary, Iraq, United Kingdom

First published

2025

Author's age

51 when first published

ISBN

9780224099783 (Jonathan Cape, United Kingdom)

9781982122799 (Scribner, United States)

9781529932423 (Vintage, United Kingdom)

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