8 Minutes Idle

Film tie-in edition. First e-book publication of the Encore Award-winning novel.
When his father is knocked over in a car accident, Dan is forced to economise, give up the bedsit the two of them share and secretly move into the call-centre where he works. He takes with him a ginger tom called John and it’s not long before the boundaries between Dan’s work and life dissolve completely. 8 Minutes Idle explores the darkly comic side of office existence and what really goes on at the other end of the phone while you’re on hold.
‘A wonderfully lucid novel…glorious to read.’ Daily Telegraph
‘Takes a mundane working world and bludgeons all comfortable normality from it. Darkly compelling.’ Heat
‘A gravity-defying performance.’ Lawrence Norfolk, Independent
‘A dexterous, assured, engrossing fiction.’ TLS
‘Such elegant prose that it is a pleasure to read.’ Literary Review

Matt Thorne was born in Bristol in 1974. He is the author of six novels, including Eight Minutes Idle, which won the Encore Award and has recently been made into a film, and Cherry, which was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize. He is also the author of three children's books and has co-edited two anthologies. His most recent book was a critical study of the pop star Prince, published by Faber.