Will, an idle, thirtysomething bachelor living in London who invents himself a son in order to score dates with young single mothers. Through this familial subterfuge he meets Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), the oddball 12-year-old son of a depressive hippie (Toni Collette) who turns his world around and eventually leads him to his dreamgirl (Rachel Weisz). “I think the kid is Hornby’s greatest creation,” Grant contends, “[and] maybe closest to his heart, because he’s …showed first 75 words of 1157 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1157 total…apart from those of Connolly or Amis. Will's friendship with Marcus - at first grudging, then resigned, and finally desperate - is both funny and touching. If About a Boy lacks anything, it is incident - like 'High Fidelity', this is a book where nothing much happens except people getting on with their lives. How Will Freeman gets on with his if he gets one at all is what About a Boy is all about.