Two old friends. Both lovers, in their youthful years, of the exuberant and beloved Molly Lane who has just left this vain world. Vernon is a well-known journalist, currently a newspaper editor. Clive is the most distinguished composer of contemporary serious music in 1990s Britain.

The day after Molly's funeral, Clive will ask Vernon for a proof of friendship that will lead to an agreement with unpredictable and unexpected consequences. Both will make disastrous moral decisions in the coming days, their friendship will be tested, their limits, both mental and spiritual, will be dangerously shaken.

"Amsterdam" (Booker Prize 1998) is a novel about friendship, love, political machinations, neo-cynicism, and the harshness of an era that teeters between widespread apathy and the reinvention of emotion, feeling, and sensitivity.