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Set in Swinging London, the novel describes one day in the life of Adam Appleby, who lives in constant fear that his wife might be pregnant again with a fourth child. As Catholics, they are denied any form of contraception and have to play " Vatican roulette" instead.

In the course of only one busy day several chances to make some money present themselves to Adam. For example, he is offered the opportunity to edit a deceased scholar's unpublished manuscripts. However, when he eventually has a look at them he feels uncomfortable realizing that the man's writings are worthless drivel. Also, at the house in Bayswater where he is supposed to get the papers, Adam has to cope with an assortment of weird characters ranging from butchers to a young virgin intent on seducing him.

Lodge's novel makes use of pasticheThe word pastiche describes a literary or other artistic genre. The word has two competing meanings, both discussed below. Pastiche as imitation In much current usage, the term denotes a literary technique employing a generally light-hearted tongue-in-che, incorporating various passages where both the motifs and the style of writing used by renowned authors are imitated. For instance, there is a KafkaesqueFranz Kafka ( July 3, 1883 in Prague June 3, 1924 in Vienna) was one of the major German language writers of the 20th century most of whose work was published posthumously. His unique body of writing continues to challenge critics, and attempts to classif scene where Adam has to renew his reading room ticket. On the other hand, the final pages of the novel, the monologue of Adam's wife in the style of Molly BloomMolly Bloom is a fictional character in the novel Ulysses by James Joyce. She roughly corresponds to the character of Penelope in the Odyssey. The major difference between Molly and Peneolope is that Penelope is eternally faithful, while Molly is anything in Ulysses, contain what is possibly one of the longest sentences ever written in the English languageThe English language is a West Germanic language, originating from England. It is the third most common "first" language (native speakers), with around 402 million people in 2002. English has lingua franca status in many parts of the world, due to the mil.

This use of different styles mirrors James JoyceJames Augustine Aloysius Joyce ( February 2, 1882 January 13, 1941) was an expatriate Irish writer and poet, and is widely considered one of the most significant writers of the 20th century. He is best known for his short story collection Dubliners ( 1914's UlyssesUlysses is a novel by James Joyce which takes its title from the Latin version of the Greek name Odysseus'. It is sometimes cited as the greatest novel of the 20th century and has been the subject of much scrutiny, criticism and confusion. Ulysses chronic, a work also about one single day. When Lodge's novel first came out quite a number of reviewers and critics, unable to get the joke and the literary allusions, actually found fault with Lodge for his apparent inhomogeneous writing.