Penguin The Mark and Void Boek Literatuur en Romans

Two men with something missing from their lives collide in a comic contemporary novel set in damp Dublin, where a weary investment banker named Claude and a struggling novelist, Paul, cross paths. As Paul weaves his fiction around Claude’s life, Claude finds his world suddenly more colorful—and perilously entangled with love, art, and ambition. The story blends romance with satire of greed and the banking crisis, delivering a witty exploration of what it means to be the hero of one’s own story.

Paul’s get-rich-quick schemes push their fragile partnership to the limit. Claude longs for meaning beyond spreadsheets and office walls, while Paul pursues fame and fortune at any cost. Their unlikely alliance could lift them both out of a big hole, or it could unleash the most disastrous turn Dublin has seen since the financial crash. With sharp dialogue, comic misadventure, and a keen eye for contemporary life, the novel tracks love, competition, and ethical temptation in a city of rain, rumors, and reinvention.

• Comic novel explores love, art, greed and banking crisis
• Set in damp Dublin during economic upheaval
• Claude: investment banker yearning for meaning
• Paul: struggling novelist and would-be entrepreneur
• Sharp, entertaining voice; page-turner humor
• From Booker Prize-shortlisted author (The Bee Sting)