New.
Royal Format.
IN MY TERRIFIED ARMS, WRAPPED IN A SOFT WHITE BLANKET THAT WAS PURCHASED WITH PICTURE-BOOK CUDDLES IN MIND, SITS, CURLED AND SILENT, STARTLED AND UNBLINKING, MY NEWBORN BABY. MY FRESH-BORN LOVE. MY BONNIE.
Jay adores his small daughter, Bonnie, and nothing matters more to him than being a good father. But Bonnie's traumatic birth puts an unbearable strain on his marriage with Shauna and the couple eventually separate.
Despite this, London was the place to be: New Labour is in power, the city is buzzing with optimism, the Millennium Dome itself in nearly done and things, as the song says, can only get better. This hopefulness is shared by Jay, who is slowly putting his life back together - sharing a flat with two eccentric Kenyan businessmen, snagging a job on a TV documentary about the Dome and, crucially, spending time with his beloved daughter.
Indeed, things might have even begun to look up. Until, that is, the arrival of The Clappers. Six foot tall, all muscle and plenty of heart, she insists on making the world right for Jay. But, inevitably, she makes it wrong.
Jay's impulsive return to Ireland with Bonnie results in some brutal family revelations which help him feel equipped to return to London for a midnight epiphany on the shadow of Tony Blair, the Queen and 'Auld Lang Syne'. Can Jay still be a good dad and a good husband?