Or maybe - as she has long believed - there is something wrong with her. Maybe she is just too sensitive, someone who finds it harder to be alive than most people. So why is everything broken? Why is Martha - on the edge of 40 - friendless, practically jobless and so often sad? And why did Patrick decide to leave?

A gift, her mother once said, not everybody gets. It’s a sharp observational and witty book of huge talent and I can’t wait to read more of what Meg Mason has to offer.Įveryone tells Martha Friel she is clever and beautiful, a brilliant writer who has been loved every day of her adult life by one man, her husband Patrick.

However, it’s never named in the book what is more important is Martha’s quest to know herself, to work out who is she is and why she never seems able to find contentment. Narrated in the aftermath of their separation, Martha is forced to return to her childhood home to live with her dysfunctional, eccentric, bohemian parents this book is filled with laughs and tears.Īt the heart of the novel is long term mental illness, the crushing depression with which Martha has battled since childhood, a depression which comes in waves for weeks or months at a time. But then everyone thinks he’s perfection, so sweet, so kind, living his life in the middle setting with Martha swinging between the extremes. When we first meet Martha, she talks about her husband Patrick with such disdain, such boredom and he comments that Martha can supply anyone with an inventory of his flaws. It’s a masterclass in ascerbic narration and perfectly pitches the dark and the light. It’s hard to believe it’s a debut as the challenging subject matter of depression is handled with such a deft touch.

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