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  • Published: 2 April 2015
  • ISBN: 9781448139699
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 384
Categories:

Love, Sex and Other Foreign Policy Goals



A group of well-intentioned students head into a war zone, armed only with 'the power of theatre' - the first novel from the BAFTA Award-winning writer of Peep Show and The Thick of It.

A group of students head into a war zone, armed only with 'the power of theatre' in the first novel from the Emmy award-winning creator of Succession and Peep Show.

It's 1994 and a gang of good-hearted young people set off in a Ford Transit van armed with several sacks of rice and a half-written play. Their aim is to light a beacon of peace across the Balkans and, very probably, stop the war.

Andrew would love to stop the war. But what he'd also love to do - perhaps even more than stop the war - is sleep with Penny. Does Penny like him though? Or does she love Simon, Andrew's rival, an irritatingly authentic Geordie poet? Or Shannon, the fierce, inspiring American leader of the troupe? And how will this all play out in a war-zone where all the rules have been abandoned?

'Original, unabashed and irresistibly funny' Guardian

  • Published: 2 April 2015
  • ISBN: 9781448139699
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 384
Categories:

About the author

Jesse Armstrong

Jesse Armstrong is the co-creator and writer of the BAFTA Award-winning Peep Show, as well as Fresh Meat, Bad Sugar, Babylon and, with Chris Morris, Four Lions. He was also co-writer of The Thick of It and the Oscar-nominated In the Loop, and wrote the Entire History of You for Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror.
Love, Sex and Other Foreign Policy Goals is his first novel.

Also by Jesse Armstrong

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Praise for Love, Sex and Other Foreign Policy Goals

Within the first few sentences, Love, Sex & Other Foreign Policy Goals had me hooked...combines the best of sitcom-style drama with just the right amount of gravity... Armstrong’s debut manages to be clever and fun while also retaining grittiness. I hope this is the first of many.

Rachael Pells, Independent

Armstrong at his comic best ... Armstrong’s hilarious portrayal of flawed humanity wins it for me.

Lucy Frith, 4 stars, Stylist

A truly comic novel.

Esquire

Very smart.

Good Housekeeping

Original, unabashed and irresistibly funny.

Zoe Williams, Guardian

Armstrong has dry, awkward British humour down to perfection.

i (The paper for today)

Well-written and full of good gags.

Sebastian Shakespeare, Tatler

A refreshing, entertaining, funny and relatable read.

Antonia Charlesworth, Big Issue

This is a novel that takes comedy out of its comfort zone… And the good news is that the more serious Armstrong gets, the funnier and filthier the jokes become.

Jake Kerridge, 4 stars, Sunday Express

One of our most accomplished TV writers has announced himself as a novelist to watch with the best Waugh-like war story debut novel sine William Boyd’s A Good Man in Africa almost 35 years ago.

Mark Lawson, New Statesman

It’s very funny and very dry – a debut novel that will clearly be the first of many.

Mario Reading, Spectator

Hilarious and thoughtful.

Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin, Independent

Darkly funny yet moving debut.

Shortlist

A "serious" novel that is genuinely and frequently funny.

Andrew Irwin, The Times Literary Supplement

This debut novel from Jesse Armstrong…is every bit as funny and cringe-inducing as the sitcoms he made his name writing.

Charlotte Ellis, Shortlist

one of the year’s funniest books.

Yasmin Sulaiman, List

brilliantly funny… the dialogue and the characters are fantastic.

Tom Basden, Metro

Armstrong has written a very funny novel about a very nasty war without being disrespectful or patronising – a remarkable achievement

Misha Glenny