This Is It is a comic novel

Comic novel

A comic novel is a work of fiction in which the writer not only seeks to amuse the reader, but also to make the reader think about controversial issues, sometimes with subtlety and as part of a carefully woven narrative; sometimes, above all other considerations...

 by Joseph Connolly

Joseph Connolly (author)

Joseph Connolly is a British journalist, novelist, non-fiction writer and bibliophile.For many years Connolly was the proprietor of The Flask Bookshop in Hampstead, London. Having started writing fiction rather late in life, he is best known today for his comic novels, especially in France, where...

 first published in 1996

1996 in literature

The year 1996 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is removed from an advanced placement English reading list in Lindale, Texas because it "conflicted with the values of the community."* In the United Kingdom, the first...

 about a womanizer who leads a double life, with workdays in London and weekends in the country. When he has an accident and is left partly immobilized for some time, he cannot keep to his sophisticated schedule any longer, and suddenly people who are never meant to meet are in danger of coming face to face with each other and blowing his cover. On top of all that, he is being blackmailed for a criminal activity which is nothing to do with his double life but, with his money having run out, his options are either to be brought to justice or to face serious bodily harm by the hands of the blackmailer.

The novel ends on an optimistic note, with the blackmailer out of the way and the protagonist just a little wiser.

Read on

• The classic example of "Bunburying" was described by Oscar Wilde
  Oscar Wilde
  Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
  
   in his 1895
  1895 in literature
  The year 1895 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* Carlyle's House in Chelsea opens to the public.* Robert Frost marries Elinor Miriam White.* Ernest Thayer recites his poem, Casey at the Bat, at a Harvard class reunion....
  
   play, The Importance of Being Earnest
  The Importance of Being Earnest
  The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
  
  .

Edition

• Joseph Connolly: This Is It (Faber and Faber
  Faber and Faber
  Faber and Faber Limited, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. Faber has a rich tradition of publishing a wide range of fiction, non fiction, drama, film and music...
  
  : London
  London
  London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
  
  , 2006) (ISBN 0571232620).