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Promising Young Women

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Promising Young Women

By: Caroline O'Donoghue
Narrated by: Tessa Coates
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About this listen

Shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards - Newcomer of the Year

Jane Peters is an adrift 20-something by day and a world-weary agony aunt by night. But when an office party goes too far, Jane dissolves into the high-stakes world of being the Other Woman: a role she has the right advice for, but not the smarts to follow through on.

What starts out as a drunken mistake quickly unravels as Jane discovers that sex and power go hand in hand, and that it's hard to keep your head when you've become someone else's dirty little secret. And soon, her friendships, her sanity and even her life are put into jeopardy.

©2018 Caroline O'Donoghue (P)2019 W. F. Howes Ltd Dark Humour Fiction Literature & Fiction Women's Fiction Scary Inspiring Thought-Provoking Comedy

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Critic reviews

"So brilliant...I highly recommend it." (Dolly Alderton)

"I loved it. The writing is whipsmart and so witty." (Marian Keyes)

"A future classic." (Jane Casey)

All stars
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I thought this was an absolutely brilliant book. The story was quite slow but delicately woven and frightening relevant.

Slow and wonderful

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Enjoyed this book but just a few two many themes raised without proper consideration/ exploration but that said I still liked it. I would read more by this author

Good story good writing

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It starts out so well. The characters are engaging, the prose really sparky, and the story rattles along - so far, so enjoyable. Then suddenly it veers off at a tangent, unsure if it wants to be a feminist polemic or a gothic psychodrama. Nothing wrong with either genre, but this felt to me like an uncomfortable mash up, with the protagonist, Jane, becoming ever more unsympathetic.

Yes, it’s making important points about power imbalance, the line between coercion and consent, and how comprehensively the cards are stacked against young women in a world run by old men, so the net effect is we’re supposed to empathise with Jane’s plight. But her endless self analysis, and her seeming inability to extricate herself from a short fling with a toxic, rapey lounge lizard all gets a bit tiresome in the end.

There’s an unnecessary online subplot, and a clunky allusion featuring an earthy, nurturing ‘witch’ trying to offer protection against the predatory, soul-sucking ‘vampire’, neither of which really enhance the narrative.

Overall, I think there’s probably supposed to be a message in here about the quiet strength and solidarity of women in the face of impenetrable patriarchy, and what it costs us to just exist in this world, but my main takeout was honestly more like, ‘play stupid games, win stupid prizes’.

It was definitely interesting, though, and I’d read more by this author. Her writing style is really appealing and immersive.

The narrator did a great job, particularly of making the opposite sex characters (in this case male) sound differentiated but natural, which is so difficult to do well. One tiny niggle is that there were quite a few obvious mispronunciations, which are hard to ignore in an audiobook because they take you momentarily out of the story. I appreciate that’s me being picky though!

Not entirely sure what to make of this!

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This was brilliant - real, honest, moving, frightening, sad, funny! Everything! It was everything x Caroline is a fabulous author and narrator was brilliant x

Epic

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Really well read! A story felt very real to society and to women in particular! The struggles of reaching success, but developing an identity in a man's world! This generation of writers will slowly bring down the patriarchy and I am looking forward to witness this.
The therapeutic male

Exciting storyline from beginning to end..

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Really good :) good story, likeable main character and good narration, enjoyed it a lot would recommend

Really liked it!

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Absolutely loved this book, listened to it in nearly one sitting! Amazing, paced well and intriguing

Fantastic

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I was really invested in Jane and her story and fear it’s an experience that many young women go through to an extent. Told in a fun and lively way, it dealt with serious issues that affect young women daily.

Addictive

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This is the second book by the author I’ve listened to, and I’m really glad I did. It’s a very thoughtful novel and even for someone way past the age of the main protagonist I took a lot from it.

Excellent!

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A gripping novel examining the choices and outcomes of everyday life. The narration was spot on as was the writing.

Excellent

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