Description

Funny, clever and true, read the unmissable short story collection about modern relationships

‘Brilliant… This collection covers themes on sex, friendship and work and dives into what it means to be human’ STYLIST

‘So precise and articulate’ SUNDAY TIMES

‘Arresting and inventive’ SALLY ROONEY

‘I couldn’t get enough’ MICHAEL MAGEE

Two teenage girls fixate on each other’s bodies; a woman encounters an ex and reflects on the women’s group that saved her; an older man’s buried grief emerges in encounter with a woman driving a 4×4; and a waitress lacks the money to fix an impacted tooth as the cracks in her life begin to show.

Free Therapy takes us into the inner lives of women and men who are versed in the language of therapy, possessed with the self-knowledge needed to change their lives, but finding themselves unwilling to doing so. As her characters try and fail to connect, Rebecca Ivory reveals the ways in which we posture and present, and the insecurities that lie beneath.

‘Her writing feels so fresh’ PANDORA SYKES

‘A major new talent’ I

Publisher Review

Arresting and inventive — Sally Rooney, author of Normal People A major new talent * i * A blooming literary talent… Ivory is the real deal * Irish Times * Wincingly funny and winningly honest * Daily Mail * Brilliant… This collection covers themes on sex, friendship and work and dives into what it means to be human * Stylist * In her debut short-story collection, Rebecca Ivory has taken all the tiny humiliations of life and made something so precise and articulate that it can feel mortifying to read… A short story collection that feels apt * Sunday Times * Ivory performs many small, delicious reveals and rug-pulls in this study of modern relationships… A fine display of her talents * Observer * Her writing feels so fresh… What these stories evoke the most is a feeling of life not looking like you thought it would; of restlessness and ennui, shot through with moments of piercing revelation that made me put the book down and think, ‘isn’t that a thing’ several times — Pandora Sykes, author of How Do We Know We’re Doing It Right? I ate it up in two sittings. Beneath these stories runs a pulsing darkness, a restless humour, a palpable and astute distrust. Here are all the ways we scam each other, but most of all ourselves — Saba Sams, author of Send Nudes Sharp, astute and painfully funny, Rebecca Ivory has written a powerful collection of stories. I genuinely couldn’t get enough — Michael Magee, author of Close to Home