So much for that

What do you pack for the rest of your life? The explosive new novel from the Orange Prize-winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin Shepherd Knacker has been saving all his working life for a one way ticket away from the daily grind.

When he sells his handyman business for $1million, 'The Afterlife' seems tantalisingly within reach.

Yet his wife has concocted one reason after another why now isn't the time to go.

Determined to take the plunge, Shep announces that he is leaving for an island off the coast of Tanzania: with or without her.

However, Glynis has an announcement of her own - she needs his health insurance.

Illustrating how a marriage is both stressed and strengthened by medical crisis, So Much for That puts the uncomfortable fiscal question: how much is one life worth?

Enlivened by Shriver's signature acerbity and political outrage, it's surely the funniest and most entertaining novel about illness and death one's ever likely to read.