The Man Who Forgot His Wife, By John O'Farrell

John O'Farrell's blokeish comedy opens with a middle-aged man arriving on a Tube into Houslow East station with no memory of who he is, or why, he's here.

After a spell in hospital, he learns that he's Jack Vaughan, history teacher at a South London comprehensive, in the final stages of an acrimonious divorce.

Amnesia comes in handy when navigating the horrors of a mid-life crisis, and O'Farrell milks the set-up with affable wit and charm.

This is an adult fairy-tale about second chances that blithely papers over uglier truths about separation and divorce.