A 2020 Spectator Book of the Year

'I took one look at him, and I saw what he really wanted.'

On the Sunday of his eighteenth birthday, in 1975, Colin takes a walk on Box Hill, a biker hang-out in Surrey. Timid, awkward, and very much out of his element, he accidentally trips over Ray, a biker taking a nap under a tree. Ray takes immediate control of the situation, and Colin moves in with him that night.

A sizzling, sometimes shocking, and strangely tragic love story between two men, Box Hill is a stunning novel of desire and domination by one of Britain's most accomplished writers.


'Mars-Jones's prose is exceptionally nimble, dry, humorously restrained, very English, with a little Nabokovian velvet too. He can describe more or less anything and make it interesting.'
-James Wood, London Review of Books

A clever and subtle novel.'
-Max Liu, Financial Times

'Adam Mars-Jones has never needed to write at great length to convince readers of his talent ... Mars-Jones's latest work is a sliver of a novel that provides ample evidence of his prowess ... Box Hill is not a novel for the prudish, but it is a masterclass in authorial control ... Despite its diminutive length, it is rich with detail and complexity, and has plenty to demonstrate Mars-Jones's well-deserved place on any list of our best.'
-Alex Nurnberg, Sunday Times