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“Hazel Hayes writes with such honesty and casual confidence and flowing dialogue, you feel you are overhearing it rather than reading it. The writing sparkles with wit and a poignant emotional reality. I love it.”—Matt Haig, bestselling author of The Midnight Library
“A smart, touching, time-bending romance. Funny and affecting.”—David Nicholls, bestselling author of One Day and Sweet Sorrow
For anyone who has loved and lost, and lived to tell the tale, this gorgeously written debut is a love story told in reverse, a modern novel with the heart of a classic: truthful, tragic, and ultimately full of hope.
Out of Love begins at the end. A couple call it quits after nearly five years, and while holding a box of her ex-boyfriend’s belongings, the young woman wonders: How could they have spent so long together? When did they fall out of love? Were there good times before the bad? These are the questions we obsess over when a relationship ends, even when obsessing can do no good. But instead of moving forward through the emotional fallout of a break-up, Out of Love moves backward in time, weaving together an already unraveled tapestry, from tragic ending to magical first kiss. Each chapter jumps further into the past, mining their history for the days and details that might help us understand love; how it happens and why it sometimes falls apart.
Readers of Normal People; Goodbye, Vitamin; and One Day will adore this bittersweet romance, a sparkling debut that you won’t want to miss.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
September 28, 2021 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780593184530
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780593184530
- File size: 1089 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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October 1, 2021
Horror screenwriter and director Hayes moves into new territory with her first novel, an unconventional love story told in reverse. After a five-year relationship, a couple goes their separate ways. What follows is a peeling-an-onion deconstruction of their relationship which gradually reveals the story of their time together back to their very first meeting. In between is a series of moments in time, some of which feel large, but some of which seem small. While the story is told from the unnamed female narrator's point of view, Hayes sensitively and expertly reveals the ways in which she and boyfriend, Theo, supported and failed each other as well as the lasting effects of early trauma on their adult lives. The result is a bittersweet love story without heroes or villains. Hayes strips away the layers to reveal the heart of a relationship between two flawed but appealing characters with their whole futures ahead of them. Recommended for fans of One Day (2010) by David Nicholls and Normal People (2019) by Sally Rooney.COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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Starred review from August 15, 2021
After 5 years together, an Irishwoman and an Englishman break up. The narrator of this book is an unnamed 30-year-old woman who moved from Dublin to London to join her boyfriend, Theo. She left everything behind--her mother, her job, her country--for Theo. And at first they were happy. Delighting-in-every-moment-exploring-each-other happy. But then life, with all the mundane choices and decisions that can either bring people together or gradually, quietly pull them apart, happened. Now it's five years later, and she's trying to pick up the pieces of her heart after Theo has suggested a break but in reality moved out. This is a heart-wrenching, beautiful story told in fragments--short stories in themselves--that track backward in time, from the painful end of a relationship that once had involved deep love to its joyful beginning full of hope. In the process, debut author Hayes has created a moving, memorable, layered story where each new revelation brings the reader to a greater understanding of both the narrator and Theo, the complexity of their relationship, and, indeed, who they are as people. This story deals unflinchingly with tough topics: Love, sexuality, heartbreak, and hope are a given considering the storyline. But Hayes also deals with trauma and abuse and how those experiences affect a person's mental health, life, and relationships. It's rare to finish a book and immediately begin reading it again. For many readers, this will be just that book. A gorgeously told story of heartbreak and recovery that still leaves the reader feeling hopeful about love.COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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