Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2018. "You will shed small tears of joy." - Nell Zink. "I wholeheartedly recommend it." - Ann Patchett. "I love this book." - Armistead Maupin. "Charming, languid, and incredibly funny, I absolutely loved Arthur." - Jenny Colgan. "Wonderful, lovable, and unexpectedly funny." - Gary Shteyngart. "Fascinating, enchanting, and marvelous." - New York Times Book Review. "A quick and exhilarating read... a wonderful, wonderful book!" - Karen Joy Fowler. "Hilarious, wise, and exceedingly funny." - Adam Haslett.

Who says you can't escape your problems? Arthur Less is a failed novelist on the brink of his fiftieth birthday. A wedding invitation arrives in the mail: it’s from an ex-boyfriend with whom he was in a relationship for nine years and who is now engaged to someone else. Arthur can’t RSVP - that would be too embarrassing; he can’t decline - that would look like a defeat. So he begins to accept the invitations on his desk, to half-.