George Worth is a grumpy lifestyle columnist who works in a woman's world. He hates fashion, mobile phones, computers and Young People. At night he goes home to a borrowed Labrador and feelings of guilt about his dead wife.

Justin Smith is a Young Person. A bright newcomer, he's always on his mobile to his girlfriend, surfing the Net and keeping abreast of the latest trends.

Then comes the day when Justin's girlfriend throws him out and he finds himself having to share a flat with George. As the women around them watch and wonder both men start to work out what really matters among the obsessions and distractions of modern life.

Funny, moving and revealing, this is a novel that confronts the big questions: Can shopping solve everything? Why are boxers better than Y-fronts? Are lifestyle writers secretly in the same mess as everyone else? And if life is a journey, who the hell changed all the signposts?

Only two big facts are known for certain: you are on a large spinning rock hurtling through space at about 67,000 miles an hour, and one day your body is going to die. Will a new pair of shoes really help?

Worth's 12th Law of Shopping.

1.New shoes for Christmas

2.Sponsor a millionaire

3.Everything must go

4.A man talks pants

5.The rules of shopping

6.Here comes the bride

7.Walking the dog

8.End of an era

9.Summer loving

10.Silly? Yes, that's the point

11.The results of sex

12.Lost and found

Afterword: A stranger in the night

Author's Note