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Promising Young Women

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Promising Young Women

By: Caroline O'Donoghue
Narrated by: Tessa Coates
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About this listen

Shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards - Newcomer of the Year

Jane Peters is an adrift 20-something by day and a world-weary agony aunt by night. But when an office party goes too far, Jane dissolves into the high-stakes world of being the Other Woman: a role she has the right advice for, but not the smarts to follow through on.

What starts out as a drunken mistake quickly unravels as Jane discovers that sex and power go hand in hand, and that it's hard to keep your head when you've become someone else's dirty little secret. And soon, her friendships, her sanity and even her life are put into jeopardy.

©2018 Caroline O'Donoghue (P)2019 W. F. Howes Ltd Dark Humour Fiction Literature & Fiction Women's Fiction Comedy

Critic Reviews

"So brilliant...I highly recommend it." (Dolly Alderton)

"I loved it. The writing is whipsmart and so witty." (Marian Keyes)

"A future classic." (Jane Casey)

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It’s funny, I kept waiting for it to turn into a dramatic “they’re drugging her and harvesting her eggs for a baby.” But the fact that there wasn’t anything like that made it so much better. Normal. Because unfortunately this kind of situation is normal. It was thought provoking and an incredible insight into women in the office and how some men will take advantage of them in any way possible. Amazing

Provoking

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This book is exactly what I needed, I could not get enough of the characters and how well the story flowed. My quickest listen yet. Caroline is an incredible author and I am so sad to finish this listen.

Completely engaging

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This is a well performed story about a young women whose life falls apart after a break up, whose downfall is consciously fuelled by bad decisions and desperation. She comes out the other side, different and more real in the world.

Even if you have never engaged in an affair with a married man I think the protagonists experience, which is similar to the heroes journey, is relatable.

The heroes journey

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What sounded very “Bridget Jonesy woe is” me almost had me give up & stop listening. But I had builder’s mess in my house to clean up so what the heck?
This story evolved and matured much as the protagonist did as she confronted her bad choices and childhood insecurities & illusions. It is a beautifully crafted, contemporary story of “Promising Young Women” navigating the business world.

Deceptively engaging

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Loved this book and listened to it so quickly. Really though provoking and well observed regarding the nuance involved in relationships with power dynamics and the feeling of being a young woman in a corporate food chain.

Inhaled this!

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A clever, entertaining novel with more layers than I expected. It was also very well read.

Pleasantly surprised

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Caroline writes so beautifully, this is a stunning book full of so much emotion. The narrator did a wonderful job at giving the perfect voice to Jane.

Beautiful writing and great narrator

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I really enjoyed this book. It was excellently written but the narrator mispronounced several words and I found it distracting and hard to understand how this wasn’t corrected

Compelling story

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Maybe a little predictable but nevertheless an enjoyable read. For a first novel, excellent job.

A good lockdown read

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Initially reading the title I thought this was a book adaptation of the movie promising young women. I was bracing for feminist revenge psychological thriller but was so tickled by this find.

The first chapters of this book were especially comforting giving Bridget Jones diary. If you love this you will also love into the deep that has similar themes of exploring sexuality, loss of work passion, and English humour you'll love this.

Stumbled on a gem

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