Exit 39 — Russell James

An up-to-the-minute tragicomedy narrated into an iPhone by Crosby Ravensworth, a 35-year-old executive too busy to scatter his father's ashes, or to sort out the dysfunctional family he has left behind, or even to decide which of the four women in his life he should connect to. His father has committed suicide and the funeral is the first time for five years that Crosby meets any of his uneasy family â€" his stepmother (who never accepted him), his stepbrother (a priest), his half-sister (a businesswoman always on the phone like Crosby) and his youngest half-brother (out of work). Crosby leaves with a sealed box of his father's papers, a last letter and the knowledge that, as executor, he is to scatter his father's ashes at a quiet location in the Lake District. When he has time. But what with his girlfriend thinking marriage, an ex-girlfriend thinking they should try again, a potential new love in America and his frantic business trips around Britain, as well as to Venice, Philadelphia and California, it seems everything conspires against him â€" or does it? Because, with any luck, even the darkest clouds have silver linings and this could be the beginning of a new life.