From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less. 'Here is a writer of great daring and originality . . . Max Tivoli may even make you cry.' Peter Carey Max Tivoli is writing the story of his life. He is nearly seventy years old, but he looks as if he is only seven - for Max is ageing backwards. The tragedy of Max's life was to fall in love at seventeen with Alice, a girl his own age - but to her, Max looks like an unappealingly middle-aged man. But when Max reaches the age of thirty-five, with an appearance to match, he has his second chance at love. But happiness eludes this star-crossed couple, and desperate measures are required.