This Is How tells the story of Patrick Oxtoby, an outsider longing to fit in. When his fiancé Sarah breaks off their engagement, Patrick leaves home and moves to a boarding house in a seaside village a few hours away. In spite of his hopes for a new and better life, Patrick struggles to make friends or make the right impression. He can't shake the feeling that his new acquaintances are conspiring against him, further fracturing his fragile personality and prompting him to take a course of action that alters the course of his life.

This Is How is a mesmerizing and meticulously drawn portrait of a man whose unease in the world leads to his tragic undoing. M. J. Hyland as shortlisted for the Man Booker prize with her previous novel Carry Me Down. With breathtaking wisdom and penetrating insight into the human mind, she has now given us a masterpiece that arouses horror and sympathy in equal measure.