The Standing Chandelier: A Novella cover art

The Standing Chandelier: A Novella

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The Standing Chandelier: A Novella

By: Lionel Shriver
Narrated by: Lionel Shriver
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About this listen

‘This early stocking filler of a novel … is a brutal treat’ Daily Mail

From the award-winning novelist and short story writer, Lionel Shriver, comes a literary gem, a story about love and the power of a gift.

When Weston Babansky receives an extravagant engagement present from his best friend (and old flame) Jillian Frisk, he doesn’t quite know what to make of it – or how to get it past his fiancée. Especially as it’s a massive, handmade, intensely personal sculpture that they’d have to live with forever.

As the argument rages about whether Jillian’s gift was an act of pure platonic generosity or something more insidious, battle lines are drawn…

Can men and women ever be friends? Just friends?

Described by the Sunday Times as ‘a brilliant writer’ with ‘a strong, clear and strangely seductive voice’, Lionel Shriver has written a glittering examination of friendship, ownership and the conditions of love.

©2017 Lionel Shriver (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Anthologies & Short Stories Contemporary Contemporary Romance Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Short Stories Women's Fiction Romance

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Critic reviews

"As ever, Shriver cuts close to the bone...Distinctly chilling." (Independent)
"Shriver is fast becoming the go-to novelist for some of the big issues...breezy, mordantly comic...if the test of a futuristic novel is its eerie proximity to the present, this passes with flying colours." (Daily Mail)
"Impressively sweeping...Shriver's intelligence, mordant humour and vicious leaps of imagination all combine to make this a novel that is as unsettling as it is entertaining in its portrait of the cataclysmic unravelling of the American dream." (Financial Times)
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Such a short book but packed full. Had a similar thing happen to me. No wisdom teeth involved. I'd forgotten all about it till I read this book, but boy am I mad now!

Wonderful writing. Brilliantly observed. For me it was a masterpiece. What an amazing litterary voice this woman has.

Brilliant

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loved it, highly recommended. Lionel Shriver is so good at really getting into the detail of human interactions and agendas.

fantastic as usual from Lionel Shriver

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Loved it.
I've returned to this novella a few times over the years, though this was the first time via Audible. I love it when an audiobook is read by the author.
For such a short story it has everything and is ultimately heartbreaking. A must read for anyone who has loved and lost a platonic friendship and had to master the unfamiliar terrain stemming from such a loss. Brilliant.

Men & Women Can be Friends... until one is no longer single.

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An excellent novella that covers more territory than most 500 page books, and makes you take sides like you do when a couple splits.

I loved the writing; the characters felt real, and the plot was well constructed without being obvious. I was surprised how involved I was, I laughed and felt sad for them; what more could you ask from a book.

A real find that left me thinking.

The complexities of sex and friendship dissected

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