"The feeling of running, of having been running endlessly, so that I was breathless, yet must go on running forever, seemed to sum up my life."

A ball, and a blast, a comedy and a tragedy. Set in 1920s New York, and originally published in 1929, this book will get inevitable comparisons to F Scott Fitzgerald (the drinking and misbehaving being very Great Gatsby-esque) and Dorothy Parker (for the wryly funny, self-aware female narrator), but what it actually felt like to me was a precursor to Nora Ephron's 'Heartburn'. It's the story of a woman who is sadly too clever for her own good - or rather, for the constraining patriarchal society she lives in - who must define and redefine herself after the collapse of her marriage. Standing on the cusp of modernity, but still with the forbidding 19th Century hanging over her past, Patricia tries to see herself as a character, to comment on her life as if it's happening to someone else; and yet she yet stays aware, with a quiet creeping dread that bursts through the comic facade, that she isn't sure who she really is, and all her witty lines and mannerisms, her deflections and deceptions, are techniques designed to stop herself, as much as anyone else, from finding out what's under the surface. The ex-wife is a "persona", as the ingenue was and the grand dame will be: but beneath this mask, what else? And why was the mask put on in the first place?

This is also a love story, as much as it's a portrait of a time and of a certain kind of "new woman". But it's equally a story of the self, like Rachel Cusk's semi-absent, identity-less narrator in 'Outline', the bohemian vagrants of Jean Rhys's early novels, and the many "lost young woman" books that have sprung up in the wake of Conversations with Friends and Fleabag. As a librarian, when people come looking for books in that genre, I've usually recommended writers like Eve Babitz as "originators" of the trope, but Ursula Parrott will definitely be joining that list, and 'Ex-Wife' would work well in a display targeted at readers of novelists like Coco Mellors, Monica Heisey, and Halle Butler..

I’ve heard so much about this book and Ursula Parrot but it was impossible to get a copy here in the UK. I was so pleased to hear about this new Faber edition and thank you so much Faber for letting me read this netgalley proof.

A delightful slice of New York City in the roaring 20s, Ex-Wife tells the story of Patricia and her marriage to Peter. It’s a story of love, marriage, relationships and the ups and downs of life.

Patricia narrates, recalling the four years of marriage to Peter and how it came to a messy end (both played a part but Peter is a real piece of work). We follow her as she grieves the demise of her marriage, befriending the wonderful Lucia in the process. By the end of the journey I was so enamoured with Patricia, I really felt for her and the sacrifices she made.

The story and its themes feel modern almost one hundred years after its first publication, which says a lot for how far we’ve travelled in terms of the way women are viewed and treated. It’s a compelling read which packs an emotional punch!

Thank you Faber for the netgalley proof of  "Ex-Wife" by Ursula Parrott , first published in the 1920ies, now rediscovered. I absolutely loved it, on my shelf of favorite novels of the year!

Spiked with great, smart one liners and wit, it reminded me a lot of the incomparable Dorothy Parker. Somewhat autobiographical Parrott describes her own life in 1920ties NY  through Patricia,   a new type of woman, recent divorcee in her twenties,  with a broken heart and career of her own plus a neverending parade of men taking her and her girlfriends out every day. How on earth did they survive on so little sleep and so much booze ? I fell in love with the  language of the novel and of course Pat and her girlfriends, whose chief goal was to stand by each other thru thick and thin and to be married again by age 30 , preferable to a wealthy man. A fabulous read, fresh and true even after 100 years, go out and buy it when it is published in August.

The premise of this was super interesting, and while the plot was intriguing, the writing style was a little hard to get into. The time jumps and retelling of the same story felt repetitive and I struggled to connect to the main character at all, which was such a shame because I was really looking forward to this one!