I was seeing Good Material by Dolly Alderton all over the place. It felt like the “it” book of 2023, and I immediately had FOMO. This was my first book by Alderton. I started reading it under the impression that I was reading a romance novel. I’m not sure how I came to that conclusion, but I assume it had something to do with the cover and the advertising. As I read, I kept expecting the main character to either get back with his ex or for the […]

Andy Dawson is a British stand-up comedian of middling success and, he is increasingly worried, of middling talent. Years removed from a Best Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Fringe, he knows finds himself stuck to performing at second-tier comedy clubs and desperately looking for low-level corporate gigs while his contemporaries are making TV appearances and becoming famous. That, however, is not what’s troubling Andy most as the story begins. He’s just been dumped by his girlfriend of the last four years. Andy was stunned when […]

Good Material is the third Dolly Alderton book that I’ve consumed, and I’d probably rank it in second place (Ghost will also hold a special place in my mind). It follows the fallout from the breakup of a 35 year old couple, Andy and Jen. What I most appreciated about this premise was the characters’ age. Breaking up at 35 is a totally different kettle of fish than a breakup in the 20s. When you’re in your 20s, there’s a sense of “there’s still time”, […]

Dolly Alderton is one half of the fabulous ‘Sentimental Garbage’ podcast duo. who I fell in love with through their deep-dives into Sex and the City. Once Alderton’s voice was in my head, it was easy to shift gears from podcast to fiction and embrace her novel Ghosts which, in many ways, felt like it could have been a re-imagining of Sex and the City, circa London in 2020. Or maybe an updated Bridget Jones Diary. As the title indicates, Ghosts tackles the singularly horrific […]