A funny, moving and brilliantly characterised novel about what happens when the metropolitan dream goes sour.

There is no money, and the Bredins can't afford to divorce.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Not a chance?"
"No."
It's so long since they have spoken to each other, rather than exchanging curt texts on their mobile phones, that talking face to face seems strange.

'I loved the The Lie of the Land. A panoramic, superbly-plotted novel about the ways we live now, about money and desire, cruelty and generosity, crime and vengeance, country and city. Craig is at the top of her game in the sweep of her storytelling, the richness of her characters, her black comedy, irony and commitment' Helen Dunmore

'Amanda Craig is one of the most brilliant and entertaining novelists now working in Britain and her range of sympathy and humor and understanding of the Way We Live Now are deeply impressive' Alison Lurie

A timely and ironic portrait of a high-flying London couple and their family's decampment to rural Devon after
they lose their jobs and income. This is not a tale city dwellers meet rural but a blistering picture of every day life for the majority of the population