Promising Young Women

A darkly funny novel about being a young woman in a man's world

Jane is twenty-six, freshly dumped, and on the bottom rung of a lacklustre marketing career. She is also moonlighting as a worldly agony aunt. When an office party goes too far, she drunkenly tries out another role: the Other Woman.

As Jane's affair with her much older, married boss takes off, she disregards the advice her alter ego would give and dissolves into being someone else's dirty little secret. But she's not the only one at her company to have taken the wrong path. As she finds her own health and sanity disintegrating, can she discover the truth before another promising young woman is taken under his wing?

About the Author

Caroline O'Donoghue is a New York Times bestselling author and the host of the award-winning podcast Sentimental Garbage. She has written two previous novels for adults, Promising Young Women and Scenes of a Graphic Nature. She has also written the bestselling supernatural series for teenagers, All Our Hidden Gifts. She was born in Ireland and currently lives in London.

Reviews

"I loved it. The writing is whipsmart and so witty and what Caroline O'Donoghue says about how women interact with men and work is fascinating. A fabulous and timely novel" ―Marian Keyes

"A darkly funny novel with a gothic twist about surviving the workplace, modern feminism, and the power dynamics that come with relationships" ―Independent

"Promising Young Women is indeed full of promise, a novel penned by a 28-year-old Corkwoman in a style that is sharp, pithy and engaging... Promising Young Women is timely and vibrant, with O'Donoghue particularly sharp on gender relations" ―Irish Times

"Promising Young Women is a book of two worlds – a light, current London of brunch and cocktails, spiraling into a gothic internal world of obsession, manipulation and fear. O'Donoghue writes the body in a hugely transporting way: if you have never felt like Jane in your own life, it will be impossible to not feel like her as you read this book – her illness and want and stasis and depression. Promising Young Women is a gothic spiral that I couldn't quite hold onto the walls of: a descent I was willing to tumble down. I loved it" ―Sarah Maria Griffin

"This is the cleverest, funniest and most assured debut novel I've ever read. Caroline O'Donoghue is enormously talented, but wears her talent lightly – this book is deceptively, seductively charming and easy, before it turns deliciously dark. It's bold, knowing and so smart – fans of Nancy Mitford or Jay McInerney will adore this, but O'Donoghue's voice is absolutely her own" ―Daisy Buchanan, author of How to Be a Grown-Up

Dimensions: 12.62 x 1.85 x 19.81 cm