'this book. this book. i read it in one day. i hear i'm not alone.' - sarah jessica parker (instagram) winner of the sunday times / pfd young writer of the year shortlisted for the dylan thomas prize 2018 shortlisted for the kerry group irish novel of the year 2018 shortlisted for the rathbones folio prize 2018 longlisted for the desmond elliott prize 2018 a sunday times , observer and telegraph book of the year frances is twenty-one years old, cool-headed and observant. a student in dublin and an aspiring writer, at night she performs spoken word with her best friend bobbi, who used to be her girlfriend. when they are interviewed and then befriended by melissa, a well-known journalist who is married to nick, an actor, they enter a world of beautiful houses, raucous dinner parties and holidays in provence, beginning a complex menage-a-quatre. but when frances and nick get unexpectedly closer, the sharply witty and emotion-averse frances is forced to honestly confront her own vulnerabilities for the first time.