He was born in Hamburg, brought up in Hong Kong and educated in England; between 1972 and 1980 at Gresham's School in Holt, Norfolk, then at St John's College, Oxford.

It was described as a skilful and wickedly funny account of the life of a loquacious Englishman named Tarquin Winot, revealed through his thoughts on cuisine as he undertakes a mysterious journey around France.

He spends the day travelling round London, with the narrative dividing itself between reporting Mr Phillips' observations about what he sees, and also exploring his recollections of things in the past, or his own taboo-like preoccupations, with sex and social obligation.

His memoir Family Romance (2007) recounts the story of his mother, a nun who walked out of the convent, changed her name, falsified her age,[3] and concealed these facts from her husband and son until her death.

The book deals with contemporary issues in British life including immigration, Islamic extremism, celebrity, and property prices.

[6] The Wall (2019) is set in a dystopic near-future Britain, where rising sea-levels and climate change have led to a breakdown in world-wide social and economic order.