'Human, astonishing, superb; and sublime.' Guardian 'A formidable voice . . . the bastard son of Philip Roth and A. S. Byatt.' New Statesman 'A remarkable achievement.' Observer Taking place over the course of one year, shifting between uptown Manhattan and a private high-school campus in Riverdale, Either Side of Winter moves season by season through that richest of cityscapes, offering a deeply moving picture of people whose lives are linked by circumstance, community - and the need to be loved.

Benjamin Markovits is twenty-nine, and The Syme Papers is his first novel. Originally from Texas, he now lives in London and writes for the London Review of Books and the Times Literary Supplement.