This,” says Andrew Sean Greer, pointing over his shoulder, index finger extended, “is my new book.” He turns to pick up the US version of his new novel, Less Is Lost, the sequel to his 2017 global bestseller, Less. “See,” he adds, holding it aloft, “it’s gold.” Clearly, when an author is the recipient of an award as fancy as the Pulitzer – Less won it in 2018 – the publishers have the budget to be as fancy as they like for their follow-up. It glints as Greer turns it this way and that. “Nice, huh?”
The pride he feels is much deserved: Greer had previously spent two decades as a well-reviewed but never quite bestselling author who had occasion to wonder, at times, “whether I’d ever have another book published again”. He points out that Less had a hard time finding a home and was turned down by 12 UK publishers before one finally took a punt. This is hard to believe, for it was an improbably charming book. It told the story of a hapless middle-aged gay writer, Arthur Less, greedily accepting invitations to any and every literary event around the world in the hope of escaping the complications of his own inner life. “Finally, a comic novel gets a Pulitzer Prize. It’s about time,” went The Washington Post headline reporting Greer’s win. Possessed of a certain melancholy, Less was a serious novel that made you laugh, by turns witty and lyrical, gently skewering the absurdities and artifices of the literary world. Armistead Maupin, Dave Eggers and Ann Patchett are among his fans, and John Updike raved about Greer’s early novels.
