He was born in Aldershot, England and educated at the University of Sussex and the University of East Anglia (where he studied under Malcolm Bradbury). His first published work was the collection of short stories First Love, Last Rites (1975). In 1998, he was controversially awarded the Booker Prize for his novella, Amsterdam. His 1978 novel, Enduring Love, is regarded by many as a masterpiece about a person with de Clerambault's syndrome.