Charlie Wales left Edinburgh University with dreams of the high-life. Six months later he is marooned in London, unemployed and living a dreary existence in a house he shares with the girl he loves (but who no longer loves him). He finally secures a job at Silverbirch - a hedge-fund based in Mayfair, where he begins to work in the brutal and remorseless world of high finance. When the markets crash, Charlie sees the potential for an escape; but is he already too far immersed in the City to get out?This debut novel does not merely pick over the carcass of the financial markets in the wake of the recent crash. It is also a heartbreaking love story, a withering study of the years of excess, and a touching contemplation of how good people end up doing terrible things.

Author Biography

Alex Preston was born in 1979 and lives in London. He was educated at Bishop Luffa Comprehensive and then read English at Hertford College, Oxford under Tom Paulin. He is currently studying for an MA in English Literature at Birkbeck College, focusing on the work of WG Sebald. He is Global Head of Trading in The Carlyle Group's Leveraged Finance division and is a regular commentator on the loan and credit markets, including appearances at industry conferences in Europe, Japan and the US. His grandfather, Samuel Hynes, is Woodrow Wilson Emeritus Professor of English at Princeton University, and the author of, amongst others, The Auden Generation, which was published by Faber in 1972. Alex has written song lyrics for numerous performers, including a top ten hit and several for his brother's former band The Ordinary Boys. He is collaborating with his brother writing songs for a number of international bestselling artists. Alex has had work published in The New Statesman,