Ordinary People
Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, an intimate London novel about love and parenthood
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- 69,00 kr
Publisher Description
Two couples in south London face grief, desire and parenthood as their relationships begin to come apart.
Melissa has a new baby and fears that motherhood is shrinking in her world. Michael still loves her, but not steadily enough. Damian is grieving his father while trying to remain present for Stephanie and their children. Stephanie wants a good, ordinary life, but grief, desire and disappointment make that feel out of reach.
Ordinary People is a novel of Black British life, marriage, sex, parenthood, friendship and aging that captures the fragile architecture that holds a household together. Both gripping and universal, this London novel explores relationships and identity with insight and emotional honesty.
'Diana is so amazing when it comes to writing about humans and relationships... I don't know anyone who's as skilled as her' Candice Carty-Williams, Oprah Magazine
'I am shouting from the rooftops to anyone who will listen to this book. It's so so good - realistic and funny and so truthful it almost winded me' Dolly Alderton
'I just finished Ordinary People by Diana Evans, and it is utterly exquisite. What a writer she is - the depth of her insight, the grace of her sentences' Elizabeth Day, Twitter
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Evans's striking novel (following 26A) investigates the relationships of two sets of friends as they navigate pivotal moments during 2008. Melissa and Michael remain engaged after 13 years; Melissa misses her former job as a magazine's fashion editor, which she left to care for her seven-year-old, Ria, and infant, Blake, while Michael longs for the passionate relationship they used to have. Continually feeling rebuffed at home, Michael searches for attention from others and notices a younger woman in his office. Hesitant to be unfaithful, Michael plans an outing to connect with Melissa, but the evening falls short of expectations and Melissa withdraws further. Meanwhile, in the second narrative, Michael's friend Damian is frustrated with Stephanie, his wife of nearly 16 years, because she refuses to live in London like their friends, opting instead to raise their children in the suburbs, thereby squelching his dream of city life and ambition of being a writer. Along with coping with the recent loss of his activist father, Damian believes his wife and her family don't share his values, and instead measure their success by the size of their home and the private lessons they provide their children. With penetrating emotional and psychological observations, Evans creates a realistic portrayal of the couples as they struggle to redefine commitment. Readers looking for careful studies of relationship dynamics will find much to contemplate.
