'The book of the summer ... Kept me rapt until the final page' THE TIMES
'A sharp, smart, witty modern love story. I loved it' David Nicholls, author of ONE DAY
'More than lives up to the hype ... Likely to fill the Sally-Rooney-shaped hole in many readers' lives' IRISH TIMES
'Droll, shrewd and unafraid - a winning debut' Hilary Mantel, author of WOLF HALL
'I've been pushing Exciting Times on everyone I know. Some of Dolan's pithy observations of her characters are the best I've read since Edward St Aubyn' OBSERVER
'A frankly sensational book' Pandora Sykes on THE HIGH LOW
'In the tradition of Dorothy Parker, Joan Rivers and Nora Ephron ... I found myself purring with pleasure. ...This is comic writing at the highest level' Craig Brown, DAILY MAIL
When you leave Ireland aged 22 to spend your parents' money, it's called a gap year. When Ava leaves Ireland aged 22 to make her own money, she's not sure what to call it, but it involves:
- a badly-paid job in Hong Kong, teaching English grammar to rich children;
- Julian, who likes to spend money on Ava and lets her move into his guest room;
- Edith, who Ava meets while Julian is out of town and actually listens to her when she talks;
- money, love, cynicism, unspoken feelings and unlikely connections.
Exciting times ensue.
Genre: Literary Fiction
'A sharp, smart, witty modern love story. I loved it' David Nicholls, author of ONE DAY
'More than lives up to the hype ... Likely to fill the Sally-Rooney-shaped hole in many readers' lives' IRISH TIMES
'Droll, shrewd and unafraid - a winning debut' Hilary Mantel, author of WOLF HALL
'I've been pushing Exciting Times on everyone I know. Some of Dolan's pithy observations of her characters are the best I've read since Edward St Aubyn' OBSERVER
'A frankly sensational book' Pandora Sykes on THE HIGH LOW
'In the tradition of Dorothy Parker, Joan Rivers and Nora Ephron ... I found myself purring with pleasure. ...This is comic writing at the highest level' Craig Brown, DAILY MAIL
When you leave Ireland aged 22 to spend your parents' money, it's called a gap year. When Ava leaves Ireland aged 22 to make her own money, she's not sure what to call it, but it involves:
- a badly-paid job in Hong Kong, teaching English grammar to rich children;
- Julian, who likes to spend money on Ava and lets her move into his guest room;
- Edith, who Ava meets while Julian is out of town and actually listens to her when she talks;
- money, love, cynicism, unspoken feelings and unlikely connections.
Exciting times ensue.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Fiercely intelligent, brutally funny and written with such heart, Exciting Times announces an impressive new voice in literature." - Nathan Filer
"A funny, smart and sensitive exploration of love, privilege and bisexuality that had me gripped from the first page. Dolan's sentences are like a splash of cold water to the face in the best possible way." - Clare Fisher
"A sharp, funny account of a contemporary relationship, told tenderly and with biting, bright insight." - Kiran Millwood Hargrave
"Devastatingly perceptive and articulate in every sentence. Whenever I wasn't reading it I was worrying about the characters as if they were people I knew. It's a joy to encounter a book so compulsively readable and painfully funny while simultaneously deeply insightful on love, on sexuality, on social class, on their links as terribly inextricable in the 21st century as they ever were. Dolan is a major talent and this is a formidable debut." - Luke Kennard
"Droll, shrewd and unafraid - a winning debut." - Hilary Mantel
"A funny, smart and sensitive exploration of love, privilege and bisexuality that had me gripped from the first page. Dolan's sentences are like a splash of cold water to the face in the best possible way." - Clare Fisher
"A sharp, funny account of a contemporary relationship, told tenderly and with biting, bright insight." - Kiran Millwood Hargrave
"Devastatingly perceptive and articulate in every sentence. Whenever I wasn't reading it I was worrying about the characters as if they were people I knew. It's a joy to encounter a book so compulsively readable and painfully funny while simultaneously deeply insightful on love, on sexuality, on social class, on their links as terribly inextricable in the 21st century as they ever were. Dolan is a major talent and this is a formidable debut." - Luke Kennard
"Droll, shrewd and unafraid - a winning debut." - Hilary Mantel
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Used availability for Naoise Dolan's Exciting Times