It's hilarious! The female characters have some of the funniest lines. It's also very erudite. There are so many well voiced point-of-view characters that I don't know how the author managed to keep them in line. It's very clever satire, an even handed excoriation of British society. The plot doesn't really surprise, in that I realised pretty quickly that most of the characters would meet a bad end but the journey in getting them there held plenty of surprises and was hugely entertaining. Most of the characters are unsympathetic but in a weird, twisted way you do feel a bit sorry for them.
'Utterly awe-inspiring.' Douglas Stuart 'Extraordinary.' Marina Hyde 'An utter joy to read.' Monica Ali 'Majestic.' Independent 'A masterpiece.' John Lanchester 'Addictively enjoyable.' Guardian 'Pitch-perfect.' Observer
** Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction ** ** A Sunday Times Bestseller **
From the author of Mayflies, an irresistible, unputdownable, state-of-the-nation novel - the story of one man's epic fall from grace.
Campbell Flynn - art historian and celebrity pundit - is entering the empire of middle age. Fuelled by an appetite for controversy and novelty, he doesn't take people half as seriously as they take themselves. Which will prove the…
This is a wonderful novel with brilliant characterisations, original structure, distinct narrative voices and a moving portrayal of a mother/daughter relationship. The voices are just wonderful, note perfect.
Nell McDaragh never knew her grandfather, the celebrated Irish poet Phil McDaragh. But his love poems seem to speak directly to her. Restless and wryly self-assured, at twenty-two Nell leaves her mother Carmel's orderly home to find her own voice as a writer (mostly online, ghost-blogging for an influencer) and to live a poetical life. As she chases obsessive love, damage, and transcendence, in Dublin and beyond, her grandfather's poetry seems to guide her home.
Nell's mother, Carmel McDaragh, knows the magic of her Daddo's poetry too well-the kind of magic that makes women in their nighties slip outside for…
This is a retelling of The Iliad from the point of view of the Trojan women. As well as being powerful emotionally, it's an interesting way of becoming immersed in the world of the ancient Greeks. I came away from it with a very different point of view of the narcissistic Achilles, despite Brad Pitt!
'Magnificent. You are in the hands of a writer at the height of her powers' Evening Standard
There was a woman at the heart of the Trojan War whose voice has been silent - until now. Discover the greatest Greek myth of all - retold by the witness that history forgot . . .
Briseis was a queen until her city was destroyed. Now she is a slave to the man who butchered her husband and brothers. Trapped in a world defined by men, can she survive…
A stunning, novel of secrets, inheritance and witchcraft, spanning two different centuries and countries, from the author of the THE KEEPSAKE A surprise inheritance. A hidden past.
Brisbane, 2024 Barista and budding artist Mia Curtis is shocked to receive a package all the way from England informing her she's the heir to her late grandmother's cottage. Feeling lost in her own life, Mia travels across the world to claim her inheritance, where she begins to unravel the secrets passed down through the generations of women in her family. Sussex, 1821 Philadelphia Boadle wakes to find her husband, the tailor Jasper Boadle, dead. As the daughter of the local cunning woman, Philadelphia is soon accused of murder by witchcraft. Her future and that of her own daughter is at stake, unless she can convince the village she's done no wrong...