A stunning debut novel combining coming-of-age with philosophy
'A book of tremendous originality: funny, clever and hugely beguiling' William Boyd
'Intellectually rigorous ... fun and charming' Observer
Fifteen-year-old Ben Warner has a mundane summer job working in the local fish-and-chip shop. Then Lila arrives. She invites him to visit her in the World of Ideas, where she hopes to help Socrates win a bet with his arch-rival Wittgenstein: he and Lila must prove to Ben that philosophy can change his life for the better.
So begins a mind-bending guided tour of the big and small questions in life, but will Socrates and Lila be able to convince Ben that the unexamined life is not worth living?
'A book of tremendous originality: funny, clever and hugely beguiling' William Boyd
'Intellectually rigorous ... fun and charming' Observer
Fifteen-year-old Ben Warner has a mundane summer job working in the local fish-and-chip shop. Then Lila arrives. She invites him to visit her in the World of Ideas, where she hopes to help Socrates win a bet with his arch-rival Wittgenstein: he and Lila must prove to Ben that philosophy can change his life for the better.
So begins a mind-bending guided tour of the big and small questions in life, but will Socrates and Lila be able to convince Ben that the unexamined life is not worth living?