The Argument [Paperback]

That's why we shout and scream at each other. Clears the air. A kind of truth begins to emerge. We see clearer.

Pip and Meredith have had a bust-up. It was only about their opinion of a film, but it's led to more significant differences coming to light. Pip has been having an affair for the past three months with a young colleague at work. Meredith's slate doesn't seem to be entirely clean either.

As their families and friends become embroiled in Pip and Meredith's separation, past prejudices, harsh judgements and painful truths come to light. The arguments that ensue go beyond just being about Pip and Meredith, and what they should do about their marriage.

In nine taut scenes, William Boyd explores what it is to argue with those we love - and those we should love. He looks at our propensity to judge others and our power to hurt. Alongside this, he shows how it can sometimes be the superficial problems in a relationship that keep it going.

Both bleak and funny in its tone,The Argumentoffers a Strindberg-like take on human dynamics and received its world premiere at Hampstead Theatre Downstairs in March 2016.

William Boyd is the author of eleven novels includingA Good Man in Africa, winner of the Whitbread Award and the Somerset Maugham Award;An Ice-Cream War, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and shortlisted for the Booker Prize;Brazzaville Beach, winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize;Any Human Heart, winner of the Prix Jean Monnet and adapted into a Channel 4 drama;Restless, winner of the Costa Novel of the Year, theYorkshire PostNovel of the Year and a Richard & Judy selection;Ordinary Thunderstormsand, most recently, theSunday Timesbestseller,Waiting for Sunrise. His first play,Longing, was an adaptation of various short stories by Chekhov and was premiered by Hampstead Theatre. William Boyd lives in London and France.