Joy by Jonathan Lee
‘Did she jump? Did she fall? Will she wake?’ On an ordinary Friday afternoon in the office, talented young lawyer Joy Stephens plummets forty feet onto a marble floor. In the shadow of this baffling event, the lives of those closest to her begin to collide and change in unexpected ways. There is Dennis, her disgraced husband, who finds consolation in books; her colleague Peter, whose refuge is a mix of hedonism and hard work; Barbara, Joy's prickly PA, who'd be content if only she could get away to New York; and Samir, Joy's hygiene-obsessed personal trainer, who escapes into exercise routines and other, stranger rituals. In a sparkling glass office in London's Square Mile - a place bursting with flirtations, water cooler confrontations and dangerous amounts of abject boredom - each of them is forced to question what they've witnessed, and to face past moments that have defined Joy's life, as well as their own. Joy is a hugely inventive, ambitious and absorbing novel about pleasure, love, loss, and work by ‘a major new voice in British fiction’ (Guardian).
A brilliant book.. Jonathan Lee is one of those rare, agile writers who can take your breath away. -- Catherine O’Flynn, author of What Was Lost
Exquisitely and surprisingly written…[Joy] proves that Lee is a significant talent and that his future work should be well worth awaiting. * Observer *
Outstanding ... a forensic portrayal of despair that shows Lee to be an exceptional, brave prose stylist... Funny and humane, Joy is an enormously impressive piece of storytelling. -- Tom Williams * Literary Review *
Jonathan Lee’s second novel, Joy (William Heinemann), charts the final day in the life of a high-flying young lawyer. Lee writes with extraordinary vividness, with prose so sharply defined it takes your breath away. -- Elizabeth Day * Observer (Books of the Year 2012) *
With its supple prose, ingenious structure, wit and slow-burn sympathy, Joy is a sly miracle of a novel. -- A.D. Miller
Lee constructs office scenes easily, weaving together numerous characters and dialogues with flair…the writing crackles. * Independent on Sunday *
A major new voice in British fiction. * Guardian *
Exquisitely and surprisingly written…[Joy] proves that Lee is a significant talent and that his future work should be well worth awaiting. * Observer *
Outstanding ... a forensic portrayal of despair that shows Lee to be an exceptional, brave prose stylist... Funny and humane, Joy is an enormously impressive piece of storytelling. -- Tom Williams * Literary Review *
Jonathan Lee’s second novel, Joy (William Heinemann), charts the final day in the life of a high-flying young lawyer. Lee writes with extraordinary vividness, with prose so sharply defined it takes your breath away. -- Elizabeth Day * Observer (Books of the Year 2012) *
With its supple prose, ingenious structure, wit and slow-burn sympathy, Joy is a sly miracle of a novel. -- A.D. Miller
Lee constructs office scenes easily, weaving together numerous characters and dialogues with flair…the writing crackles. * Independent on Sunday *
A major new voice in British fiction. * Guardian *
Jonathan Lee was born in 1981 and lives in London. His first novel, Who is Mr Satoshi?, was nominated for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2011 and shortlisted for an MJA Open Book Award 2011. The BBC’s Culture Show programme recently featured him as being one of Britain’s ‘best new novelists’.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780434020423 |
| ISBN 10 | 0434020427 |
| Title | Joy |
| Author | Jonathan Lee |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Cornerstone |
| Year published | 2012-06-07 |
| Number of pages | 320 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |