Each week, Tom and Louise meet for a quick drink in the pub before they go to meet their marriage counsellor. Married for years and with two children, a recent incident has exposed the fault lines in their relationship in a way that Tom, for one, does not wish to think about.

In the ten minutes in the pub they talk about the agenda for the session, what they talked about last week, what they will definitely not talk about with the counsellor, and how much better off they are than the couple whose counselling slot immediately precedes their own.

Over the ten weeks that follow Tom and Louise begin to wonder: what if marriage is like a computer? When you take it apart to see how it works you might just be left with a million pieces you can't put back together . . .

Nick Hornby was born in 1957, and is the author of six novels, High Fidelity, About a Boy, How To Be Good, A Long Way Down (shortlisted for the Whitbread Award)Slam and Juliet, Naked. He is also the author of Fever Pitch, a book on his life as a devoted supporter of Arsenal Football Club, and has edited the collection of short stories Speaking with the Angel. He has written a book about his favourite songs, 31 Songs, and his reading habits,The Complete Polysyllabic Spree. In 2009 he wrote the screenplay for the film An Education. Nick Hornby lives and works in Highbury, north London.