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  • Published: 3 June 2019
  • ISBN: 9780241987797
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 144
  • RRP: $22.99

State of the Union

A Marriage in Ten Parts




A brilliantly true and incredibly funny new screenplay from Oscar-nominated script writer and one of this country's most beloved novelists

Tom and Louise meet in the pub opposite their counsellor's office ten minutes before their session is about to start. Their marriage is in a state of crisis because Louise has been unfaithful, after a long period in which Tom wasn't interested in having sex with her at all.

The plan in these ten minutes is to talk about the agenda for the session, what they talked about last week, what they never talk about, and what is wrong with the couple whose counselling slot immediately precedes their own. Frequently they talk about things that are really not important to their difficulties but which animate and provoke them anyway.

In this way, we learn about the history and the future of a marriage. Anyone who has ever been in a relationship made more complicated by time, and familiarity, will recognise themselves in this brilliantly funny comedy written by one of our most beloved writers,one who captures relationships like few others.

  • Published: 3 June 2019
  • ISBN: 9780241987797
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 144
  • RRP: $22.99

About the author

Nick Hornby

Nick Hornby was born in 1957. He is the author of five novels, High Fidelity, About a Boy, How To Be Good, A Long Way Down (shortlisted for the Whitbread Award) and Slam; three works of non-fiction, Fever Pitch (winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award), 31 Songs (shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award) and The Complete Polysyllabic Spree; and a Pocket Penguin book of short stories, Otherwise Pandemonium.

Nick Hornby lives and works in Highbury, north London.

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