"An absolutely cracking debut. It’s incredible. Exceptional. It blew me away. "
This newcomer is one to watch, it feels like she could be one of the greats, an author we’ll still be talking about in decades to come.
It’s a sharp, dark, hard look at life yet funny and oh so tender too. Set in New York, it’s the story of 23 year old Edie who lives in a dingy flatshare. She’s brutal, not kind, and mean-spirited even: “I almost lose a seat to a woman who gets on at Union Square, but luckily her pregnancy slows her down” but you root for her, respect her honesty, her openness, her lack of self-pity, her unsentimental nature.
She’s not had it easy: her mother committed suicide, she has trouble making friends, men lose interest in her when she talks. At night, she flits from one sexual conquest to her next hook up, is an editorial assistant in a publishing house by day and is messing it up big time. Then she meets Eric. He’s married. He’s 40. He’s white. He has an adopted black daughter who’s only ten years younger than Edie. As Edie becomes entangled in this family life the book explores themes of race, class, gender, sex, depression and loneliness. And I was transfixed. Read this book! I can’t wait to see what Leilani does next.
| Primary Genre | Family Drama |
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