THE BOOK: For Murray Tepper it's not about the journey, it's about the parking spot. With the expert knowledge of a seasoned New York parker, Tepper hunts down much sought-after spaces, parks up, reads his newspaper and gleefully dismisses other hassled drivers who are desperate to nab his spot - despite their frustration Tepper isn't going out! With rumours of his strange behaviour circulating, the local media and Manhattan's intrigued citizens soon become convinced that Murray Tepper is doing something far more radical and meaningful than simply reading the paper, and a bizarre revolution begins to take shape with Tepper cast as its unlikely hero. Fantastically funny and offbeat, Tepper Isn't Going Out is a cosmopolitan novel about a seemingly straightforward man who, in his search for a quiet life and a beautiful spot, inadvertently attracts the attention of an entire city. Tepper Isn't Going Out is a jewel of a book. Achingly funny in a bone dry New York kind of way, Trillin writes with warmth and urbanity about mailing lists, alternate side parking and life's small pleasures. It is without doubt the great American parking novel. - Catherine O'Flynn THE AUTHOR: For more than five decades humourist Calvin Trillin has written for publications such as Time, The Nation and The New Yorker. He has published 18 books but considers parallel parking to be his special talent. This is the first UK publication of Tepper Isn't Going Out, which was first published in the U.S. in 2002.