The Post-Birthday World
Lionel Shriver
The new novel from the Orange Prize winning author of We Need to Talk About KevinIrina McGovern’s destiny hinges on a single kiss. Whether she gives into its temptation will determine whether she stays with her reliable partner Lawrence, or runs off with Ramsey, a hard-living snooker player.Employing a parallel universe structure, Shriver spins Irina’s competing futures with two drastically different men. An intellectual and fellow American, Lawrence is clever and supportive, but rigid and emotionally withdrawn. A British celebrity, Ramsey is passionate and spontaneous, but jealous, undereducated, and prone to pick arguments. Their contrasting characters will colour her other relationships, her career, and the texture of her daily life.If love is always about trade-offs—if every romantic prospect is flawed—how can we ever know whom to choose?
Copyright (#u4a42056f-9533-5cdc-a80e-12dee8c874a3)
The Borough Press
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Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2015
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2007
Copyright © Lionel Shriver 2007
Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2015
Cover photographs © Shutterstock.com (http://Shutterstock.com)
Lionel Shriver asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it, while at times based on historical figures, are the work of the author’s imagination.
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Source ISBN: 9780007578030
Ebook Edition © 2014 ISBN: 9780007279586
Version: 2015-01-22
Dedication (#u4a42056f-9533-5cdc-a80e-12dee8c874a3)
(#u4a42056f-9533-5cdc-a80e-12dee8c874a3)
‘Nobody’s perfect.’
—KNOWN FACT
Contents
Cover (#u4aa11455-561f-523a-a6f8-bedcfc30a795)
Title Page (#u0071ef79-52c0-5734-a619-448975a10682)
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph (#u54abefdf-708a-5e04-8ccc-256c0c83c282)
chapter one
chapter two
chapter three
chapter four
chapter five
chapter six
chapter seven
chapter eight
chapter nine
chapter ten
chapter eleven
chapter twelve
about the book
Praise for The Post-Birthday World
About the Author
Also by Lionel Shriver
About the Publisher
chapter one (#u4a42056f-9533-5cdc-a80e-12dee8c874a3)
What began as coincidence had crystallized into tradition: on the sixth of July, they would have dinner with Ramsey Acton on his birthday.