About this Event
Join us for an evening to celebrate the Faber Editions publication of Ursula Parrott's Ex-Wife, with Monica Heisey and Sheena Patel discussing the book and writing relationships and breakups.
This summer, Ursuala Parrott's lost classic Ex-Wife has been brought back into print, joining the Faber Editions collection and feauring a new introduction by Monica Heisey. Join us for an evening with Monica Heisey (), who will be joined by Sheena Patel () to discuss the book and, touching on their own books, what it means to write relationships and breakups.
Ex-Wife, Ursula Parrott:
It feels remarkable to be a deserted wife when one is only twenty-four.
New York, 1924. Patricia and Peter are a thoroughly modern married couple. Both drink. Both smoke. Both work. Both believe in ‘Love-Outside-Marriage’. Until they don’t. Or, really, until he doesn’t. So when Peter pushes for divorce with increasing violence, Patricia has to forge a new life as a single woman: as an ex-wife.
A sensational bestseller in 1929, yet utterly timeless, Ex-Wife plunges us into the ‘era of the one-night stand’. It evokes not only the Manhattan bars, fashion advertising offices, female friendships and all-night parties of a dazzling city, but the hollow affairs, emotional hangovers, backstreet abortions, and struggles for sexual freedoms amidst the moral double standards of a patriarchal world.
'A forgotten classic: darkly funny and startlingly contemporary, full of witty one-liners and stop-you-in-your-tracks observations about romance, work, and life... As relevant, moving, and scathing today as it was the day of its publication.' - Monica Heisey
'Bridget Jones in the Jazz Age... Ex-Wife is funny, lively and sometimes harrowing, engaging with its own contemporary culture in a way novels rarely do... Now, a century on from her first success, it's cause for celebration that she can be read once more' - Observer
Why we love Faber Editions:
Faber Editions spotlights rediscovered gems from the archive and beyond, resurrecting radical literary voices who speak to our present, championed by world-famous authors. Rooted in history, these are books for the future.
Join us from 18:00 for a welcome drink!
Monica Heisey is an author and television writer from Toronto, now based in London, UK. She has written on shows including Schitt’s Creek, Workin’ Moms, Baroness von Sketch Show and Gary and his Demons. She has since written a rom-com series, Smothered, starring Aisling Bea and Jonathan Pointing, released with Sky this winter. Her writing has been published in The New Yorker, the New York Times, The Cut, Vogue, the Guardian, VICE, and elsewhere. She was previously an Editor at Large at Broadly. Really Good, Actually is her debut novel.
Sheena Patel is a writer and assistant director for film and TV who was born and raised in North West London. She is part of the 4 BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE collective, has been published in 4BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE (Rough Trade Books) and a poetry collection of the same name (FEM Press). In 2022 she was chosen as one of the Observer‘s Top 10 best debut novelists. I'm A Fan is her debut novel.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Waterstones, 82 Gower Street, London, United Kingdom
GBP 7.00 to GBP 10.00
