Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan - Women's Prize Longlisted Contemporary Fiction - Hardback

Condition: BRAND NEW
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781474613446
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (W&N)

Overview:
Exciting Times is Naoise Dolan's razor-sharp debut novel following Ava, a young Irish woman adrift in Hong Kong, navigating money, class and desire through two very different relationships. Praised by Hilary Mantel as a "winning debut", it's a droll, emotionally precise study of modern love and self-invention. This brand new hardback is perfect for fans of witty, millennial literary fiction and coming-of-age stories.

About the Book:
Ava is twenty-two, bored, broke, and a long way from home, teaching English to rich children in Hong Kong. When she falls into a strange, transactional relationship with Julian, a wealthy banker who offers her his spare room, Ava becomes entangled in a life she can observe but never quite own. Then Julian leaves for London, and Edith enters the picture: a whip-smart Hong Kong-born lawyer who takes Ava to the theatre and leaves tulips in the hallway. Suddenly Ava must decide what she actually wants, rather than what she has simply drifted into. Told in Dolan's clipped, deadpan prose, Exciting Times examines how class, language and money shape intimacy, and how a young woman slowly learns to want something on her own terms. It's frequently very funny, but the humour cuts into questions of privilege, colonial history and self-worth without ever feeling heavy-handed. Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and a Sunday Times bestseller, it captures a distinct kind of millennial displacement, expat life, precarious income, the slipperiness of modern romance, with unusual clarity. Readers who love character-driven literary fiction with a sharp comic edge will find plenty to enjoy here, and the Hong Kong setting adds texture that elevates it above a typical love-triangle plot. This hardback edition is a lovely, durable format for a debut already established as a modern classic of millennial literary fiction.

• Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021 and a Sunday Times bestseller
• Sharp, funny, and emotionally intelligent debut in the tradition of Sally Rooney
• Vivid Hong Kong setting exploring class, money and cultural displacement
• Praised by Hilary Mantel as a "winning debut"
• Brand new hardback edition, ideal for gifting or building a literary fiction collection

About the Author:
Naoise Dolan is an Irish author born in Dublin in 1991. She studied English Literature at Trinity College Dublin and later at Oxford University. Exciting Times, published in 2020, is her acclaimed debut, longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards. Dolan has since published further novels and is recognised as a distinctive voice in Irish literary fiction, known for her precise, witty prose.

Why You'll Love This Novel:
Whip-smart, funny and quietly devastating, Exciting Times is essential reading for fans of contemporary literary fiction about love, money and identity. This brand new hardback makes a brilliant gift or addition to any bookshelf.

Please Note: Book cover and edition may vary slightly from image shown; ISBN and format are for the UK edition as listed.