It's their party...Meet Melissa and Paul: Five years after they split up he's still looking for love in all the wrong places while she wants the one thing she can't have: Paul. Meet Chris and Vicky: They're so in tune they even brush their teeth in time with each other. So what is Chris doing risking it all for a meaningless affair? Meet Cooper and Laura: He wants to settle down, she wants to take a grown-up gap year -- but can their relationship really survive a year apart? Set across a year of leaving dos, birthday parties and anniversary celebrations The Life and Soul of the Party is a warm, funny and moving tale celebrating love, life and those special moments we've all spent in the kitchen at parties. Mike Gayle has contributed to a variety of magazines including FHM, Sunday Times Style and Cosmopolitan. His bestsellers, My Legendary Girlfriend, Mr Commitment, Turning Thirty, Dinner for Two, His 'N' Hers, Brand New Friend and Wish You Were Here are available in Hodder paperback. To find out more about his novels, visit Mike's website at www.mikegayle.co.uk

麥剋•蓋爾(Mike Gayle)，1970年齣生於英國伯明翰。目前為自由新聞工作者，曾是兩性關係專欄作傢，為許多知名雜誌撰稿，如：《男人幫》(VHM)，倫敦時報的《星期日時尚》(Sunday Times Style)，《時尚》(Cosmopolitan)等。

其作品以男性的視角，從都市男女情感的層麵切入，將社會給予男性的責任、女性寄予男性的期待及由此給男人帶來的不安全感和恐懼感等，進行瞭細緻入微的刻畫，讓人一窺男性內心的私密世界，令人耳目一新。其作品開闢瞭全新的“男性自白文學”，是齣版界的奇跡！

作者語言簡潔幽默，新意叢生。其第一本小說《失戀紀念日》(My Legendary Girlfriend)一經麵世，即讓他紅遍海外市場，該作品已被翻譯成二十多種語言並被買下電影改編權。國內已經引進齣版瞭蓋爾的《分手清單》（His and Hers）、《曖昧純友誼》（Brand New Friend）等作品，深受讀者喜愛。