Luke is allergic to everything. He spends his days in a sterile safe-haven designed to keep out all light and dirt, while everything he knows about the world comes from books, movies, the internet and whatever his best-friend Julie tells him. He would do anything to go outside.

Julie, brilliant and kind, could be out changing the world. Unfortunately, she’s too afraid of airplane crashes, highway accidents, and potentially life-threatening bacteria to leave her hometown, her pointless waitress job, or Luke.

Charlotte’s boyfriend dropped dead from a brain hemorrhage. She disappeared for awhile, but now she’s decided that she misses her friends.

David has just been diagnosed with testicular cancer. Consequently, he’s no longer wants to spend his days making pizza to pay for school. His priorities in life are changing; he just doesn’t know how, yet.

Leanne has just discovered that she may or may not have magic powers.

When this motley bunch befriends a lottery winner with a generous heart, they all embark on a hysterical and heartwarming journey in search of the healer who just might be able to cure Luke, and perhaps give them the answers they didn’t know they were looking for.

"Slacker lit is so 1992...but Thomas...gives smirking satire a warmer heart in this contemporary quest novel....[M]embers of Gen Y are likely to embrace the pop-culture references and the characters' rambling conversations..." Jennifer Mattson, Booklist

"Sharply observed and dryly funny, but it somewhat too aptly illustrates Julie's warning to Luke that real life is not like TV: 'Stuff happens and there just is no structure.'" Kirkus Reviews

"Fierce and honest, Going Out is a hilarious testament to love, friendship, and the pleasures of hitting the road." Lauren Grodstein, author of The Best of Animals and Reproduction is the Flaw of Love

"Points the way to a new future for English fiction. Fans of Coupland and Murakami: here is your new favourite author." Matt Thorne, author of Pictures of You

"Writing for and about people who cannot stand words such as Zeitgeist, Scarlett Thomas captures perfectly the Estuarine suburbs where a lack of blonde highlights makes you a weirdo and where eccentrics are nevertheless stashed behind every Homebase-bought door. Never mind what the neighbors might think — Going Out is worth staying in for." The Times (London)

"Thomas builds an absorbing, sympathetic story." Esquire (UK)

"Original, funny and full of insight. A brilliant and assured novel with themes that resonate long after the book has been put down." Chrissie Glazebrook, author of The Madolescents and Blue Spark Sisters

"A modern take on The Wizard of Oz that will be thoroughly enjoyed by all fans of Douglas Coupland." Daily Mail (London)

"Original and well written." Jockey Slut

"An unusually sharp writer." Irish Tattler

"Full of love, honesty, humour and sadness." Rebbecca Ray, author of Pure

From one of the 20 Best British Young Writers named by The Independent on Sunday comes a charming, quirky, clever novel about six capricious young eccentrics and the crises of the middle (twenties) age.

Scarlett Thomas is the author of Bring Young Things. She was also a contributor to the controversial anthology All Hail the New Puritans. The Independent named her as one of the 20 Best British Young Writers in 2001 and in 2002 she won the Best New Writer award at the Elle Style Awards. She grew up in Essex and now lives in Devon with her partner and their animals.

Visit Scarlett’s website at www.bookgirl.org