First Love

Gwendoline Riley Granta €15.99 Writer Neve is in her mid-30s and married to an unwell older man, Edwyn. From his flat, she contemplates their relationship and her earlier life: abusive father, failed affairs. It is a bleak tale – full of bullying and cruelty, sarcasm and loneliness – but sprinkled with moments of tenderness and humour. Riley’s deadpan narrative belies her masterful descriptive powers. A mother uses a ‘doll’s tea-party voice: self-enclosed, self-chivvying’. The novel is suffused with such gems, and Riley also has a brilliant ear for conversation. Original and unforgettable.