Lucy married just the sort of man you might expect : a university graduate who runs his own business. Unfortunately he turned out to have serious dependency issues. Joseph is shaking off the memory of his last date, a girl who ticked all the right boxes and also drove him up the wall. On an average Saturday morning in a butcher's shop in North London, Lucy and Joseph meet on opposite sides of the counter.
She is a teacher and mother of two, with a past she is trying to forget ; he is an aspiring D.J. with a wide-open future that maybe needs to start becoming more focused. Lucy and Joseph are opposites in almost all ways. Can something life-changing grow from uncommon ground ? Nick Hornby's brilliantly observed, tender and brutally funny new novel gets to the heart of what it means to fall headlong in love with the best possible person - someone who may not be just like you at all.