An amazingly insightful book with a main character, Nina, who tore at my heartstrings. Everything has gone wrong for poor Nina: her father died of alcoholic pancreatitis when she was little, her Mum has a new life with a new partner, and her beloved boyfriend Jamie has decided to take a gap year in Hong Kong before university, then dumps her long-distance when he meets someone else. Like many young people, Nina likes a drink - or many, and it is starting to leave black holes in her memory and mess up her life. This story depicts an avalanche of ill fortune and bad judgement but told in such a deft way that our sympathies are kept very much on Nina's side, as we learn how very badly people can behave. Will Nina be the ultimate victim? Or will she learn to live with herself and others, and take a different path? I thought this story was brilliant and that it should be read by everyone. It shows how damaging low self esteem can be and how it is possible to take a new direction in life. With cyber-bullying and revenge porn such contemporary issues, it is highly relevant to growing up today and it is one I would want to share with my teenaged children, It is a gem of a book. Shappi Khorsandi has a magic muse.
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