Care of Wooden Floors: A Novel - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1542047749 ISBN 13: 9781542047746

Synopsis

A witty debut novel about a house-sitting gig gone terribly, hilariously wrong.

A British copywriter stays for a week at his composer friend Oskar’s elegant, ultramodern apartment in a glum Eastern European city. The instructions are simple: feed the cats, don’t touch the piano, and make sure nothing harms the priceless wooden floors. Content for the first time in ages, he accidentally spills some wine. Over the course of a week, both the apartment and the narrator’s sanity fall apart in this original and “weirdly addictive” (Daily Mail) novel.

As the situation in and out of the sleek apartment spirals out of control, more of Oskar’s notes appear, taking on an insistent—even sinister—tone. Care of Wooden Floors is a must-read for anyone who’s ever bungled a house-sitting gig, or felt inferior to a perfectionist friend—that is to say, all of us.

About this title

Review:

Radio 4 Book at Bedtime

‘Funny and richly poetic...a surreal, farcical, original first novel’ The Times Books of the Year

‘A very funny novel combining schadenfreude and belly laughs. Just don’t let Wiles flat-sit for you.’ Independent

‘This is a terrific first novel, written with a very engaging deadpan wit, and an understated sense of the absurd.’ Kate Saunders, The Times

‘ingenious...his story has something in common, in terms of manic sensitivity, with Edgar Allan Poes’ The Tell-Tale Heart...[with] deft and precise descriptive asides. This is a smart and polished debut.’ Daily Telegraph

‘This novel acquires the queasy allure of a cliff edge, the sense of impending catastrophe becoming strangely compelling...addictive and rather clever, too.’ Daily Mail

‘Funny, beguiling and quietly profound; a wonderfully well-crafted debut.’ TLS

“A nicely turned satire on the notion that the path to spiritual contentment lies in a pristine set of polished wooden floorboards ...Wiles has an eye for beauty, but an even more impressive eye for ugliness... a novel full of impeccably stylish writing...” Guardian

‘A novel about minimalism and chaos, which reveals more about the interaction of architecture and life than many an earnest treatise. If you want above all a good read, get this one.’ Guardian Best Architecture Books of the Year

‘Highly idiosyncratic, well-written, with a vivid sense of place – compelling.’ Michael Frayn

‘Care of Wooden Floors is a wonderful work. Precisely constructed, with an eye that sees in between the everyday spaces of our lives, it sheds new light, not only on ourselves, but on the contemporary novel itself.’ Lee Rourke, author of The Canal

‘The novel’s strength lies in Wiles’s wry depiction of the battle between chaos and order.’ Sunday Times

‘entertainingly conjure[s] up a life lived through aesthetics’ Art Review

‘Wiles is a talent to watch’ The Spectator

‘Compelling’ Independent on Sunday

About the Author:

Will Wiles is a journalist and contributor to Icon, a monthly architecture and design magazine in the UK. His work has also appeared in Cabinet and New Statesman, among other publications. Will lives with his wife in London. Visit his blog at willwiles.blogspot.com

About this edition

• ISBN 10: 1542047749
• ISBN 13: 9781542047746
• Binding: Paperback