Life at a bookstore in LA through the eyes of a cynical English bookseller - irascible, witty and darkly humourous at his own expense and that of his unfortunate customers

'Laugh-out-loud funny' DAILY MAIL 'John Tottenham writes with a rare comic intensity' COLM TÓIBÍN 'My favourite nihilistic romantic' RACHEL KUSHNER 'A brutally honest, insightful, intelligent and absolutely hilarious novel' MICHAEL IMPERIOLI What's this book about? Is there a restroom? Do you have gluten-free bagels? Do you work here? Do you have a restroom? Do I buy books or rent books or what? Still a bookseller in his late forties, Sean knows that the worst thing about a bookshop is the customers. Then there's the gift-wrapping, the invoicing, the Yelp reviews. The overwhelming sense of self-loathing after another day of not writing a novel yourself. While Sean's book remains unfinished, his city has changed around him. As have friends and acquaintances, at least the ones who keep in touch. The service industry is different, too. But what, or whom, is he serving anyway? Biting, hilarious and self-aware, John Tottenham's debut novel is a razor-sharp dissection of gentrification, friendship, jealousy and the role of literature in a digital age.

"Hilarious... A book about the destruction of bohemia and the nightmare of trying to live--let alone make art--with very little money." - The New York Review of Books

"Hilarious, refreshingly mean-spirited and often brilliant" - Washington Post

"Savage, furious, hilarious and melancholic all at once" - Financial Times

"This gritty, bleak, nihilistic, yet darkly funny, novel contains more insight into bookseller life than the many dozens of other contemporary novels on the subject" - Lit Hub

"Full of whipsmart lines on the drudgery of retail, the futility of art and the hateful lifestyles of hipsters, Service is laugh-out-loud funny and nearly always bang-on true" - Daily Mail