An Experiment in Leisure

(Paperback)

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Description

A sharp and witty debut novel that is at once a tender portrait of youth and an exploration of the emotional costs of social mobility, the possibilities of leaving and returning, the meanings of work and the ways a woman learns to love women 'I adore this book! ... An Experiment in Leisure shows us the burning, intense, messy beauty of youth and what it means to be alive' Maxine Peake 'Can I get a refund' I asked the bus driver. 'You taking the piss, love' It's the eve of Brexit, and Grace is supposed to have what she wants. She's swapped West Yorkshire for north London, her accent carefully edited. Her friends drink beer out of artful tins. She makes flat whites for people with berets. She's found a psychoanalyst. But this fantasy of metropolitan cool is turning out to be more costly than she thought and Grace faces complicated crises of identity, class, sexuality and geography. Can she remember how to love Can she find a way home 'A dizzying yet powerful read' Claire-Louise Bennett, author of Checkout 19

Reviews

Riveting...the words blaze and bounce across the page * Claire-Louise Bennett, author of Checkout 19 *
I adore this book... Shows us the burning, intense, messy beauty of youth * Maxine Peake *
A stunning, vivid and very funny debut * Saskia Vogel, author of Permission *
This is such a special book. With deeply joyful pace, and rhythm, I grew as obsessed with the prose itself as I did with the plot and characters. As things in the Big World seem to get more binary, An Experiment in Leisure plunders the grey area with wit and forgiveness - and that's exactly where I wanted to be * Tom Rasmussen, author of First Comes Love *
Remarkably assured... An attractive aspect of Glendenning's writing is the warmth with which she suffuses not just Grace but her whole cast of characters * Daily Telegraph *

Author Bio

Anna Glendenning is a writer from Leeds. She was formerly an editor at And Other Stories, where books under her wing made the 2018 Man Booker International and Goldsmiths Prize shortlists. In 2017 she was shortlisted for the White Review Short Story Prize. She was born in 1991, is based in London and works in the engagement team at Kew Gardens.