Exciting Times

"Naoise Dolan’s entertaining first novel Exciting Times has just been released in the US, having shot straight into the bestseller charts in the UK and Ireland. Set in Hong Kong, a cynical Irish TEFL teacher falls in with a fast crowd of Oxbridge and Trinity College, Dublin graduates when she starts sleeping with the cold fish Old Etonian Julian, and turns a gimlet eye upon the brash, neo-colonial attitudes of his privileged friends. But when she falls for Mei Ling (“Edith”), a beautiful and hardworking lawyer, she is forced to reckon with what it means to be earnest. Crammed with rapier-sharp one-liners and an almost academic analysis of social interaction, Exciting Times’ caustic wit made me laugh out loud, then nod in agreement. Maggie O’Farrell’s lyrical eighth novel, Hamnet – a fictionalised account of the short life of Shakespeare’s son – appeared during the height of Covid-19 panic, so don’t miss out; the Booker Prize-winning Irish author Roddy Doyle ( Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha ) saw the UK release of his new Love pushed to October, but it should still appear in late June on the other side of the Atlantic. Suzanne Collins, author of the Hunger Games fantasy trilogy for young adults , has published her highly anticipated prequel , The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes , which offers a backstory for the detestable bad-guy President Snow. Panem is bereft of our heroine Katniss Everdeen, but it will be a valued addition to any fan’s bookshelf, young or old."