'Original, funny, thought-provoking and heart-warming - this book's got the lot. A must read for 2023.' * Lucy Searle, Editor-in-Chief of Homes and Gardens * 'Close Encounters of the Plumbing Kind - a royal flush, it made me laugh out loud.' * Dame Joyce Plotnikoff * 'What a delight! Nick's clients, workmates and family are hilariously and movingly depicted . . . One is left, tantalisingly, with the urge to know what happens next. Can't wait for the sequel!' * Haydn Bendall, music producer * 'Warm, funny and insightful, Nicholas James is the quiet interloper into the lives of others. A modern-day Dickens, his dry wit, and brilliant eye for detail, captures a menagerie of characters, taking us behind the shower curtain and into their bathrooms and drama of their lives, with hilarious and at times heartbreaking effect. Weaving his own life and that of his Merry Band of Misfits who work with him, you can't help but fall in love with him and them. This is a book about friendship, about fatherhood, about marriage, about the people in this city and how a fixed pipe or new tap are the quiet heroic acts of a happy domestic life. I will never look at my plumber in the same way again' * Abi Morgan, screenwriter and author of This Is Not a Pity Memoir * 'Nick's knack for observation and plumbing is on full display in this wonderfully eclectic, funny and laugh out loud book.From hand painted antique French bidets, gimp masks, printed penises, to put upon stressed out house wives, vintage wine collections and a rather interesting accounting system.It's all here, Pipe Dreams is a wild, 'hold on tight', thoroughly enjoyable, entertaining and highly recommended read.You'll most certainly see your plumber differently from now on.' * David Berridge, author of Inside Parkhurst * 'Charming . . . quite the page-turner' * Heating, Ventilating and Plumbing Magazine *
