“Mercer,” Polly says, “we are now going to hug. As a group. The experience will be very un-English. It will be good for you. Do not speak, at all, especially not in an attempt to diffuse the emotional intensity of the situation.”They hug, somewhat awkwardly, but with great feeling.“Well,” Mercer says, after a moment, “that was certainly—”“I will hit you with a shovel,” Polly Cradle murmurs.”

British novelist and commentator

Nick Harkaway, born Nicholas Cornwell, is a British novelist and commentator. He is known for writing under the name Nick Harkaway, and has 132 quotes on the site. Under that name, he wrote the novels The Gone-Away World, Angelmaker, Tigerman, Gnomon, Titanium Noir, and Karla's Choice, as well as the non-fiction study The Blind Giant: Being Human in a Digital World. He also wrote two novels under the pseudonym Aidan Truhen.