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Living with It

Regular price $14.95
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Lizzie Enfield’s compelling new novel explores the hearts and minds of ordinary people as they struggle to come to terms with the choices they’ve made. Acutely observed and utterly gripping, it exp...
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  • 26 June 2014
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Lizzie Enfield’s compelling novel explores the hearts and minds of ordinary people as they struggle to come to terms with the choices they’ve made. One-year-old Iris is deaf. Her parents, Ben and Maggie, are devastated. So are their close friends Isobel and Eric. Isobel knows that her decision, taken years ago, not to have her own children vaccinated against measles is to blame for Iris’s deafness. And Ben knows this too. To make matters worse, Isobel is the woman he fell in love with in his twenties – the woman who married his best friend. As he and Maggie start legal proceedings, Isobel’s world begins to unravel. Acutely observed and utterly gripping, this novel by Lizzie Enfield explores love and loss, guilt and recovery, with humour, honesty and page-turning prose.
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Price: $14.95
Pages: 336
Publisher: New Internationalist
Imprint: Myriad Editions
Publication Date: 26 June 2014
Trim Size: 7.80 X 5.00 in
ISBN: 9781908434470
Format: Paperback
BISACs: FICTION / Medical, FICTION / Literary, FICTION / Family Life / General, FICTION / Women
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‘A surprising page-turner with an extraordinarily haunting conclusion.’ – Mail on Sunday

‘A compelling read... a vivid, detailed and funny picture of the life of two modern families.’ – William Nicholson

‘A brilliant evocation of emotional turmoil. Lizzie Enfield vividly portrays the parental dilemmas, moral complexities and potentially tragic consequences of the MMR controversy.’ – James LeFanu

‘ [Lizzie Enfield’s] dialogue is perfectly pitched, and her storytelling thought-provoking and nuanced. Living With It explores an emotive issue with insight and care.’ – Sarah Rayner

‘A wonderful forensic style in which ordinary details are used to create extraordinary stories. [Lizzie's] writing reminds me of Anne Tyler’s.’ – Araminta Hall

‘Entertaining and thought-provoking throughout.’ – Argus

‘A very believable picture of contemporary family life as the fallout [from the MMR scandal] causes rifts between husbands and wives, parents and children, and sends shock waves right through their extended circle.’ – Sussex Life

‘A cleverly woven story of family intricacies and the politics of friendship with the topical and controversial subject of the MMR vaccine.’ – Anne Cater

‘Enfield’s intelligent and hugely compelling novel boasts brilliantly drawn characters, spot-on observations of family life and the well-presented arguments from both sides.’ – Spirit FM

‘Enfield pinpoints the seemingly trivial details that can make or break [a holiday with friends] with forensic attention... a stylish, understated book that can be read on many levels.’ – Brighton and Hove Independent

‘Lizzie Enfield’s third novel represents a significant change in her writing style... a much darker tone... compelling, thought-provoking and ultimately satisfying.’ – Ian Kirkpatrick

‘ [A] rich and complex tale of ordinary people battling extraordinary circumstances.’ – Fiveways Directory

‘Perfectly pitched... features a breath-taking twist that reinforces everything that has gone before. Highly recommended.’ – Pamreader

‘A brave and timely book.’ – Catherine Smith

‘A superb examination of one of the most contentious of recent issues, exploring both sides of a morally ambiguous coin.’ – We Love This Book