Really Good, Actually

The No. 2 SUNDAY TIMES Bestseller

An Observer Best Debut of the Year

‘Intoxicating … heralds a really good author to watch’ THE TIMES

‘Hilarious and profound’ DOLLY ALDERTON

‘Wildly funny and almost alarmingly relatable’ MARIAN KEYES

‘Monica Heisey is a genius’ NINA STIBBE

One of the most hotly anticipated, hilarious and addictive debut novels of 2023, from Schitt’s Creek and Workin’ Moms screenwriter and electric new voice in fiction, Monica Heisey.

I feel like when you get a divorce everyone’s wondering how you ruined it all, what made you so unbearable to be with. If your husband dies, at least people feel bad for you.

Maggie’s marriage has ended just 608 days after it started, but she’s fine – she’s doing really good, actually. Sure, she’s alone for the first time in her life, can’t afford her rent and her obscure PhD is going nowhere . . . but at the age of twenty-nine, Maggie is determined to embrace her new status as a Surprisingly Young Divorcée™.

Soon she’s taking up ‘sadness hobbies’ and getting back out there, sex-wise, oversharing in the group chat and drinking with her high-intensity new divorced friend Amy. As Maggie throws herself headlong into the chaos of her first year of divorce, she finds herself questioning everything, including: Why do we still get married? Did I fail before I even got started? How many Night Burgers until I’m happy?

Laugh-out-loud funny, razor sharp and painfully relatable, Really Good, Actually is an irresistible debut novel about the uncertainties of modern love, friendship and happiness from a stunning new voice in fiction, Monica Heisey.

'Hilarious, heart-warming, wise' PAULA HAWKINS

‘Monica Heisey makes me laugh hard and often’ ROB DELANEY

‘A Sex and The City for social media-obsessed millennials … Irresistible’ METRO

‘Wry, modern, self-deprecating’ INDEPENDENT

‘Already one of the most talked-about releases for 2023’ EVENING STANDARD

About the author

Monica Heisey is an author and television writer from Toronto, now based in London, UK. Her writing has been published in The New Yorker, the New York Times, The Cut, Vogue, the Guardian, VICE, and elsewhere. She was previously an Editor at Large at Broadly. Her first book, an acerbic collection of essays called I Can’t Believe It’s Not Better, was published in Canada by indie Red Deer Press. She has written on shows including Schitt’s Creek, Workin’ Moms, Baroness von Sketch Show and Gary and his Demons.