The Post-Birthday World

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 An intellectual and fellow American, Lawrence is clever and supportive, but rigid and emotionally withdrawn.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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www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

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.