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Paperback / ISBN-13: 9781844085934

Price: £10.99

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Reviews

Few works of literature can genuinely be termed "ahead of their time"
The Times
*'A brilliant novel:honest, engaging and sharp as a tack
Sarah Waters
This is the book which has aroused considerable advance speculation and well it might; it has a tremendous reader recognition . . . there cannot be much doubt that Mary McCarthy is an exceptional social satirist, with a jackdaw eye and an infallible ear
Kirkus Reviews
Scalpel-keen prose, honed on ruthless wit and insight
Observer
Feels like discovering a thrilling secret. Its prose shows a master stylist at work, its aesthetics are striking - all ivory-tipped cigarettes, hand-pureed pâté, Vassar socialists in dungarees - and it has a surprise queer romance that twists the whole narrative into new shape. It's my new standard for a summer read: lavish, hilarious, smart and mean, like a glamorous friend you're torn between fearing and crushing on
Mikaella Clements
A woman of intellect and style
Celia McGee, New York Times
McCarthy's dissection of this disparate group - highly educated but powerless in a world of men - is witty and merciless but tinged with sadness.
Daily Mail
One of my favourite books ever
India Knight
Her greatest novel . . . marvellous . . . a prophetic book which set the scene . . . for the novels of protest and liberation in the next decade
Independent
Lively, vivid and exceedingly entertaining
SUNDAY TIMES
McCarthy's characters confront many of the same issues as their modern counterparts: sex and contraception, career and marriage, love and lust, fidelity to one's husband versus loyalty to one's friends and the attempt to carve out a place for oneself unconstrained by the gender limitations of previous generations. Its continuing relevance is one of the book's most extraordinary attributes
Elizabeth Day, Guardian
Shocking, titillating, and acid-laced . . . the book still dazzles as a generational portrait, falters as fiction, and blighted McCarthy's life
Laura Jacobs, Vanity Fair
Juicy, shocking, witty, and almost continually brilliant
Cosmopolitan
Juicy, shocking, witty, and almost continually brilliant
COSMOPOLITAN
A brilliant novel: honest, engaging and sharp as a tack
Sarah Waters
Lively, vivid and exceedingly entertaining
Sunday Times
She is a sparkler, a very funny, very savage moralist, and a brilliant mimic
Spectator
Absorbing, funny, painful . . . I consider it a masterpiece
Hilary Mantel
*'One of my favourite books ever
India Knight