This vivid and strikingly witty novel examines the contradictions between the public face and the private experience. Nephew to the prime minister of England, eighteen-year-old Bert tries to make sense of the grown-up world around him, a colorful crowd of television personalities, politicians, Young Trotskyites, pop stars, and eccentric relatives. With the help of his laconic psychoanalyst, Bert questions the relation between exterior and interior reality, while Mosley himself questions art"s ability to convey these different realities. Both Bert and Mosley triumph over these challenges by the end of this engaging and innovative novel, part of the series of interlocking novels concerning the fortunes of the six protagonists of Mosley"s Catastrophe Practice.