Madeleine St John, author of the wonderfully engaging The Women in Black, set in 1950s Sydney, turns her sharp eye and social observations to contemporary London.

Nicola, a young and happy publicist for an arts organisation, returns home to find her partner Jonathan waiting to talk to her. Blissfully unaware of his state of mind, she is utterly paralysed when he announces that he wants them to go their separate ways. What follows is a smart and witty assessment of contemporary relationships and the nature of romantic love. 

At first Nicola clings to the idea that this is a bad dream she will surely waken from. As she slowly comes to her senses, she turns to her closest friends to help rebuild: she finds a new place to live, applies for a new job, starts a new morning coffee routine. Jonathan, on the other hand, so keen to escape the relationship trap, falls into a dull and empty routine. What, after all, is the essence of that thing called love? As one of the male characters reflects: ‘I suppose nothing is as serious as love’, but then, ‘Don’t ever tell anyone I said that, will you? … I’ll never be able to show my face on a squash court again.’