Shelf Life by Livia Franchini
'Shelf Life is whip-smart, slyly heartbreaking, and I felt the truth of it in my bones.’ Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water Cure Ruth is thirty years old. She works as a nurse in a care home and her fiancé has just broken up with her. The only thing she has left of him is their shopping list for the upcoming week. Starting with six eggs, and working through spaghetti and strawberries, apples and tea bags, this inventive novel builds a picture of a woman defined by the people she serves; her patients, her friends, and, most of all, her partner of ten years. Without him, Ruth needs to find out – with conditioner and single cream and a lot of sugar – who she is when she stands alone. With her fresh unpredictable style, Franchini skewers modern relationships and toxic masculinity, moving effortlessly between humour and heartbreak to tell the story of a woman rebuilding herself on her own terms.
Shelf Life is whip-smart, slyly heartbreaking, and I felt the truth of it in my bonesFranchini dissects ideas of love, dating and identity in a way that feels both ruthless and humane. I loved it. * Sophie Mackintosh, author of 'The Water Cure' *
This is a beautiful novel. The scene with the mother and the chicken is one of the most rigorous, affecting, strange scenes I have read in a while and it's still haunting me. It was funny, and sad, and I devoured it. It reminded me of Convenience Store Woman. I absolutely loved it. * Susannah Dickey, author of 'Tennis Lessons' *
Livia Franchini has delivered an impressive, Sally Rooney-esque debut novel. * New Statesman *
Shelf Life is so intimate. It's like riding the bus home with a friend as she confides her secret hopes and fears. Each raw emotion is carefully delivered. Franchini has created a protagonist who feels achingly real. I wanted to cancel all my plans and just read this book. * Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of 'Harmless Like You' *
Shelf Life feels like a Bridget Jones for cynical souls. Franchini captures perfectly the mundane devastation of heartbreak and the utter impossibility of knowing and being known. Sweet, funny, odd and achingly perceptive, this seemingly small tale asks some terrifyingly big questions about love, loss, identity and existence. I couldn’t put it down. * Natasha Bell, author of 'His Perfect Wife' *
This is a beautiful novel. The scene with the mother and the chicken is one of the most rigorous, affecting, strange scenes I have read in a while and it's still haunting me. It was funny, and sad, and I devoured it. It reminded me of Convenience Store Woman. I absolutely loved it. * Susannah Dickey, author of 'Tennis Lessons' *
Livia Franchini has delivered an impressive, Sally Rooney-esque debut novel. * New Statesman *
Shelf Life is so intimate. It's like riding the bus home with a friend as she confides her secret hopes and fears. Each raw emotion is carefully delivered. Franchini has created a protagonist who feels achingly real. I wanted to cancel all my plans and just read this book. * Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of 'Harmless Like You' *
Shelf Life feels like a Bridget Jones for cynical souls. Franchini captures perfectly the mundane devastation of heartbreak and the utter impossibility of knowing and being known. Sweet, funny, odd and achingly perceptive, this seemingly small tale asks some terrifyingly big questions about love, loss, identity and existence. I couldn’t put it down. * Natasha Bell, author of 'His Perfect Wife' *
Livia Franchini is a writer and translator from Tuscany, Italy. Her recent publications include the novel Shelf Life, her English-language translation of Lorenza Mazzetti’s The Sky Is Falling, and the anthology Too Little / Too Hard: Writers on the Intersections of Work, Time and Value, co-edited with Lucy Mercer. Livia is Lecturer in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, where she also coordinates the Goldsmiths Prize. She lives in south east London.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781784164805 |
| ISBN 10 | 1784164801 |
| Title | Shelf Life |
| Author | Livia Franchini |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Transworld Publishers Ltd |
| Year published | 2020-01-09 |
| Number of pages | 288 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |