Gay bookshops and specific LGBT sections are valuable, too, because LGBT people can and should explicitly celebrate our identities but we’re everywhere in society, so it’s about time we were everywhere in bookshops. It was the sort of book that might have been banned within Ireland not long ago, and it was not only there on the general fiction shelf, but able to attract me based on my interests outside sexuality. (Sometimes people say that it was ‘modern’ of me to write my debut novel about a bisexual love triangle. Same-sex relationships weren’t intrinsically shocking to me, and they weren’t spoken about openly enough at home or at school for me to know what other people thought. With the wedding season arguably already in full swing, and summer holidays beckoning, with their long. I can’t remember having any particular reaction to that. Naoise Dolans second novel couldn’t have been timed better considering the subject matter. The blurb said that the novel centred on a love triangle between a woman, a man, and another woman. I was obsessed with old books and history, so the cover image of a woman in an elegant Georgian dress drew me in. It was there in general fiction under ‘D’ not prominently displayed, as it had been published a few years back, but promisingly bulky. I was fourteen or so, and I found it in Dubray’s Rathmines branch.

– money, love, cynicism, unspoken feelings and unlikely connections.The first gay book I remember reading was Life Mask by Emma Donoghue. – Edith, who Ava meets while Julian is out of town and actually listens to her when she talks – Julian, who likes to spend money on Ava and lets her move into his guest room – a badly-paid job in Hong Kong, teaching English grammar to rich children When Ava leaves Ireland aged 22 to make her own money, she’s not sure what to call it, but it involves: When you leave Ireland aged 22 to spend your parents’ money, it’s called a gap year. …This is comic writing at the highest level’ Craig Brown, DAILY MAIL ‘ I n the tradition of Dorothy Parker, Joan Rivers and Nora Ephron … I found myself purring with pleasure. ‘ A frankly sensational book‘ Pandora Sykes on THE HIGH LOW Some of Dolan’s pithy observations of her characters are the best I’ve read since Edward St Aubyn‘ OBSERVER ‘ I’ve been pushing Exciting Times on everyone I know. Naoises debut novel was the critically acclaimed Exciting Times, shortlisted for the Waterstones Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Sunday Times/. ‘ Droll, shrewd and unafraid – a winning debut‘ Hilary Mantel, author of WOLF HALL ‘ More than lives up to the hype … Likely to fill the Sally-Rooney-shaped hole in many readers’ lives‘ IRISH TIMES I loved it‘ David Nicholls, author of ONE DAY ‘ A sharp, smart, witty modern love story. ‘ The book of the summer … Kept me rapt until the final page‘ THE TIMES

Naoise dolan books