The Universe versus Alex Woods

*Perfect for fans of A BOY MADE OF BLOCKS*

**RICHARD AND JUDY summer bookclub read 2013, Amazon Rising star, and shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize**

*** A funny and touching story of an unlikely friendship and an improbable journey***

Alex Woods knows that he hasnt had the most conventional start in life.

He knows that growing up with a clairvoyant single mother wont endear him to the local bullies.

He also knows that even the most improbable events can happen - hes got the scars to prove it.

What he doesnt know yet is that when he meets ill-tempered, reclusive widower Mr Peterson, hell make an unlikely friend. Someone who tells him that you only get one shot at life. That you have to make the best possible choices.

So when, aged seventeen, Alex is stopped at Dover customs with 113 grams of marijuana, an urn full of ashes on the passenger seat, and an entire nation in uproar, hes fairly sure hes done the right thing.

A tale of an unexpected friendship, an unlikely hero and an improbable journey, Alexs story treads the fine line between light and dark, laughter and tears. And it might just strike you as one of the funniest, most heartbreaking novels youve ever read.