LoveReading Says
Oh boy did I love this book!
It’s a cliche to compare things to Fleabag, but I’m going to bloody do it anyway because I think there’s a useful similarity here in Winter’s skill for keeping you on the tip of your seat – constantly morphing surreal silliness into poignancy, and dark humour into bittersweetness, and back again. And of course, in its often coarse obsession with sex.
In the opening scenes we meet Frances, on the run from both her angry drug dealer and her horny girlfriend. The tension of her ridiculous scheme to raise funds is soon undercut by the quiet depths of Frances’ despair, loss, and ennui.
Winter writes beautifully and startlingly about love. I lost myself in Frances’ memories of her ex, Adrienne – from her Frances’ obsessive, puppyish crush on her at first meeting, to the moment Adrienne writes her number on a banana and drops it out of a window (inspiring the distinctive cover art) and the relatable pities and aching horrors of their break-up. I often felt a twist of pathos in her subtly switching between viewpoints to never let us rest on our judgements of people: ‘Elaine noticed Frances like she had walked in on fire. Elaine had never believed in love at first sight but, like most people, she secretly longed to be proved wrong’.
It’s no wonder Winter is on the Comedy Women in Print Prize list – not only is the concept itself brilliantly fun, Winter has a knack for embedding actual ‘jokes’ within prose in a way that feels effortless, stylish, and, astonishingly, funny. I don’t know if they’ll work outside of sardonic context, but I was jovially underlining lines like these throughout: ‘Elaine was stupidly, foolishly, hopelessly in love, and as such heard warning bells as the chimes of a future wedding’.
Hook it up to my veins!
Lily Lindon
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Dawn Winter Press Reviews
'Sedating Elaine is a brilliantly quirky, surreally funny story of a woman who comes up with the craziest idea ever for clearing her debts. In Frances, Dawn Winter has created an intriguingly headstrong yet vulnerable character with an astonishing talent for making the worst possible life-decisions. I laughed, cringed and held on to the edge of my seat as Frances' hare-brained scheme hurtled along like a runaway train heading for a precipice. A thoroughly entertaining read!' - Sarah Haywood
'As soon as I read the synopsis for Sedating Elaine I was hooked - it's tender, vicious, hilarious, exhilarating, devastating and HOPEFUL. The vibe is Amy Sedaris x Eleanor Oliphant. I LOVED it. - Daisy Buchanan
'In Dawn Winter's knockout debut, Sedating Elaine, Frances owes money to a drug dealer and, with no way of getting it, contrives to have her obnoxiously upbeat, generationally wealthy girlfriend, Elaine, move in with her so she can shake her down for money... The prose, like Frances, is sprightly and dry. Crisp. Delivered with a shrug... Frances is funny and winning... You find yourself rooting for the drugging to go off without a hitch' - New York Times
'It's not often I root for a depressive villain hellbent on doping up their girlfriend, but there's so much in Dawn's book that's painfully relatable to a lot of people - building up exes into demigods, irrational hatred for perfectly sweet-natured rebounds, general frustration with life and not really understanding how unresolved trauma can still manipulate you. Although it's a bonkers premise, Sedating Elaine is an emotionally charged story that's beautifully told - I was very impressed by the writing: lovely and thoughtful but also deliciously catty, as well as engrossing, compelling, and darkly funny with well-drawn characters whose complexities come as naturally as breathing in and out . . . an enjoyable riot of a novel' - Justin Myers
'The story of a savage anti-heroine that feels part Hitchcock fantasy, part Patrick Bateman. Brutal, funny, and genuinely shocking in places, Sedating Elaine is my favourite kind of debut novel: in that you can tell it was written by someone with an acid drive to write something they have never read anywhere before - Caroline O'Donoghue
'Sedating Elaine is a delightfully unhinged romp through romantic debacle, jaw-dropping decisions, and an emotional quagmire of guilt and longing. In this deft debut, Dawn Winters has created a modern, madcap comedy of errors that ultimately offers a touching lesson in forgiveness. Utterly bonkers and as darkly comic as it gets, Sedating Elaine is a brilliant, bingeable read - Rachel Yoder, author of Nightbitch
'Sedating Elaine is a tasty caffeinated jolt that grabs you from page one and races you to a surprisingly moving conclusion - I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Dawn Winter's dazzling wit is beautifully coupled with a natural ability to explore difficult themes like loss and forgiveness. A winning debut' - Steven Rowley, bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus
'Brash and engaging' - Kirkus
'Winter's sharp debut blends humor and emotional reflections with an exploration of trauma, substance abuse, and dysfunctional relationships . . . Written in moving and candid prose, this takes an unflinching look at what troubled people are capable of, and what they might need to be healed. The result is amusing and touching in equal parts' - Publisher's Weekly
'Sedating Elaine has everything I crave in a novel: a delightfully subversive premise; a narrator with her life in shambles; and a voice that crackles with heart and wit. What really kept me turning the pages, though, was Winter's unexpected and poignant look at loss and grief. I loved this book.' - Grant Ginder, author of The People We Hate at the Wedding
'Electric prose paired with a sharp-edged wit, on its surface Sedating Elaine is an off-kilter bop that will make you sweat and flip pages. However, the true victory of Winter's debut is its unblinking desire to capture humanity in all its crooked beauty. Frances is a narrator who reminds us to look past people's rough exteriors and consider their vulnerable insides' - Jean Kyoung Frazier, author of Pizza Girl
'Sharply observed, morally chaotic, in moments both madcap and elegiac, Sedating Elaine does the surprising work of putting human emotional damage on display first for laughs, and then for love, if the reader's heart can bear it' - Rufi Thorpe, author of The Knockout Queen
'I loved this clever, funny and slightly mad debut about love, sex, grief and guilt . . . It's a riotous rollercoaster of hilarity, tenderness and beautiful craziness that kept me hooked from the start.' - Sara Lawrence, Daily Mail
'Hilarious, tender, crazy and beautiful' - Wendy Holden, Irish Daily Mail
