The Post-Birthday World

The new novel from the Orange Prize winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin

Irina McGovern’s destiny hinges on a single kiss. Whether she gives into its temptation will determine whether she stays with her reliable partner Lawrence, or runs off with Ramsey, a hard-living snooker player.

Employing a parallel universe structure, Shriver spins Irina’s competing futures with two drastically different men. An intellectual and fellow American, Lawrence is clever and supportive, but rigid and emotionally withdrawn. A British celebrity, Ramsey is passionate and spontaneous, but jealous, undereducated, and prone to pick arguments. Their contrasting characters will colour her other relationships, her career, and the texture of her daily life.

If love is always about trade-offs—if every romantic prospect is flawed—how can we ever know whom to choose?

Reviews

Praise for ‘The Post-Birthday World’:

‘Those of us who rave about the dash and dare of Lionel Shriver’s fiction can rejoice that ‘The Post-Birthday World’, a ‘Sliding Doors’-style joint tale of alternative loves and lives, will garner the attention she always deserves.’
Independent

‘There is an impressive freshness in her treatment. The writing is intelligent, the characterisation thoughtful, the insights into love, sex and snooker sharp…Shriver confirms her reputation as an original talent’.
Mail on Sunday

‘The Post-Birthday World is exceptionally well written and the characters fully formed.’ Irish Sunday Independent

‘Shriver gives us another passionate novel…Like Sliding Doors, the tale splits into two, following the dramatic turns of each choice. Brilliant.’
Cosmopolitan

‘It's another domestic drama with a compelling twist…the power struggle between the sexes is spot-on. Shriver chalks her narrative cue with relish and, once the story gets underway, it's hard to take your eyes off the green baize.’
Tatler

‘’The Post-Birthday World’ is Lionel Shriver’s forthcoming work about the dilemmas of love – a must if you were gripped by ‘We Need To Talk About Kevin’.’
Harper’s Bazaar

About the author

Lionel Shriver's novels include the New York Times bestseller The Post-Birthday World and the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin, which won the 2005 Orange Prize and has now sold over a million copies worldwide. Earlier books include Double Fault, A Perfectly Good Family, and Checker and the Derailleurs. Her novels have been translated into twenty-five different languages. Her journalism has appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. She lives in London.