Exciting Times - Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021

When you leave Ireland aged 22 to spend your parents' money, it's called a gap year. When Ava leaves Ireland aged 22 to make her own money, she's not sure what to call it, but it involves:

- a badly-paid job in Hong Kong, teaching English grammar to rich children;
- Julian, who likes to spend money on Ava and lets her move into his guest room;
- Edith, who Ava meets while Julian is out of town and actually listens to her when she talks;
- money, love, cynicism, unspoken feelings and unlikely connections.

Exciting times ensue.

'I had real fun with Exciting Times. It is a very funny, spiky, Marxist, feminist comedy and it's really mean' Zadie Smith

'A frankly sensational book' Pandora Sykes

'In the tradition of Dorothy Parker, Joan Rivers and Nora Ephron ... I found myself purring with pleasure. ...This is comic writing at the highest level' Craig Brown, DAILY MAIL

'I've been pushing Exciting Times on everyone I know. Some of Dolan's pithy observations of her characters are the best I've read since Edward St Aubyn' OBSERVER

'A deeply profound insight into a modern relationship and love story' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'Delighted to have read this gem of a story. It gave and took in equal measure and I laughed and cringed' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'Funny and wry and political and smart and it knows exactly how it feels to be 22 and in unfamiliar surroundings' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐