. . "New Zealand." . . "New Zealand" . "Novelists, New Zealand Fiction." . . "Bohemians believe that if you travel light and live for today, you'll never grow old ... Novelist Max Napier didn't set out to make a mess of his life but if you choose to entertain romantic notions and a raffish self-image, it's always on the cards. Now on the brink of turning 50, he's alone in his little flat, out of ideas, out of love and out of fashion. A chance meeting with an old friend arrests the spiral, but not all the ghosts from Max's past are benevolent and there are tricky curves to negotiate on the road to redemption and emotional renewal. Paul Thomas' new novel is an acute, darkly comic portrayal of changing times and the baby boomer generation in the shadow of mid-life crisis." . . . . . . . . . . . . . "Fiction" . "Fiction"@en . "Work in progress" . . "Work in progress"@en . . "New Zealand fiction" . .