Girlfriend 44 - Mark Barrowcliffe

Since he was ten years old, Harry has had one ambition - to find the perfect girl for him. Forty-three women and twenty years later he is no nearer his goal. He doesn't ask for much; just a beautiful intellectual who doesn't mind his constant infidelity. Harry's best friend and flatmate Gerrard did once find true love - but he didn't realise it until the day she left him. Only two women have met his exacting criteria, and he's not hopeful that he'll find another. Even if he does, he's not sure he can trust her not to grow old eventually.

Then they meet Alice. Alice is the perfect girl. She's the only woman in the world Harry and Gerrard can agree on. Unfortunately, she seems to like both of them. Gerrard wants Alice for himself, but Harry will stop at nothing to win her. Friendship is forgotten and even a little light poisoning is on the cards. But can a man who thinks size ten is a bit on the chubby side grow up fast enough to win the girl of his dreams?

Mark Barrowcliffe was born in Coventry and studied at the University of Sussex. He worked as a journalist before penning his first novel,Girlfriend 44, and went on to write two other acclaimed comic novels,LuckyDog andInfidelity for First-Time Fathers, as well as The Elfish Gene,a memoir of his youth in 1970s Coventry. He lives in Brighton.

Sharp and funny
Loaded

'Marvellous... This stunning debut is witty, genuinely funny...and so pacy you can't put it down' Rob Cassey, Gardners
'One of the best first novels I have read for years... Packed full of sharp one-liners and brilliantly funny observations' David Wilkerson, Heffers, Cambridge
'A hilarious debut novel in the tradition of Men Behaving Badly' Publishing News
'Acutely embarrassing observations on male/female relations... Compelling in its humorous characterisation... It reads like a film' Publishing News
'Full of one liners so hysterically funny you'll be reduced to making embarrassing noises on public transport' New Weekly (Aus)

Dazzlingly funny and oh so true...
Jill Mansell

Funny, sharp and so realistic you think you know all the characters... We loved GIRLFRIEND 44 so much
New Woman

Hilarious... [Barrowcliffe is] an assured stylist with a lively, wordy wit
Independent on Sunday

I howled with laughter... Lively, witty and upbeat... If you've got any sense of humour at all you'll be hard pushed to get through GIRLFRIEND 44 without laughing out loud
Mirror

A natural chronicler of the love-lorn male
The Times

Smart and funny
Cosmopolitan

A hilarious read
Company

PS Magazine