Service

By: John Tottenham

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Paperback | 4 November 2025

At a Glance

Paperback
336 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.4 x 13.4 x 3.1

Paperback

RRP $34.99

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'John Tottenham writes with a rare comic intensity' Colm T³ibn
'My favourite nihilistic romantic' Rachel Kushner

What's this book about? Is there a restroom? Do you have gluten-free bagels? Do you work here? Do you have a restroom? Do I buy books or rent books or what?

The worst thing about a bookshop is the customers. Then there's the gift-wrapping, the invoicing, the stock takes. The Yelp reviews that inevitably contribute to self-loathing.

In his late forties, Sean is still a frustrated bookseller who should have written his novel already. Instead, he spends his days drowning in his overwhelming sense of contempt -for LA, for its readers, for its casual disdain for service. And what, or whom, is he serving anyway?

Biting, hilarious and self-aware, John Tottenham's debut novel is a razor-sharp dissection of the modern scourges of gentrification, male vanity, jealousy and the worth of literature in a digital age.

Industry Reviews

'So heartfelt that we find ourselves howling with laughter because, despite his best efforts, John Tottenham writes with a rare comic intensity and re-creates himself in the guise of an unforgettable character in fiction' - Colm Toibin

'The weariest bohemian, with a Keatsian death-drive he somehow keeps outliving, John Tottenham is my favourite nihilistic romantic' - Rachel Kushner, Booker-shortlisted author of Creation Lake
'Hilarious, refreshingly mean-spirited and often brilliant' - Washington Post
'A post-punk Byron ... Service looks like a blow but is a prayer' - Constance Debre, award-winning author of Love Me Tender

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