Consider Yourself Kissed
A Novel
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4.0 • 4 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Does "happily ever after" have to mean losing a part of yourself?
When she first meets Adam, Coralie is new to London and is feeling adrift. But Adam is clever, witty and (he insists) a half inch taller than the average male. His charming four-year-old daughter only adds to his appeal.
But ten years on, something important is missing from the life Coralie and Adam have built. Or maybe, having gained everything she dreamed of, Coralie has lost something else she once had: herself.
Set against an eventful British decade that included the soap opera of five prime ministers plus Brexit and Covid, Consider Yourself Kissed puts the subjects of love and family on a grand stage, showing how the intimate dramas in our homes inescapably compete for energy and attention with the shared public dramas of our times.
Told over ten years of one woman's life, this is an unforgettable love story that effortlessly balances sweetness with bite, the public with the personal, and humour with heart.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Stanley (A Great Hope) serves up a charming and intelligent story of a 20-something Australian copywriter and aspiring novelist who builds a new life in London. Soon after arriving in England in 2013, Coralie meets political journalist Adam in a park and falls in love. He's amicably divorced from his ex-wife, Marina, with whom he shares custody of their four-year-old daughter, Zora. Coralie is intimidated by Marina's "intellectual credentials," and after she moves in with Adam and helps raise Zora, she senses that Marina views her as a "low-level functionary who nevertheless oversaw an important part of her life." Coralie's creative ambition keeps getting deferred; drafts of the novel she's working on live first under a sofa cushion and then in an IKEA bag under the bed. Adam, on the other hand, churns out books, including a biography of Boris Johnson. As the narrative progresses to the present day, Stanley portrays domestic and political developments with wry humor and sharp prose, depicting how the Brexit vote and a family loss each put a strain on the couple and how Coralie finally grapples with her desire to write. Readers will root for Stanley's endearing heroine.
