![]() ![]() Ava-who has struggled throughout the novel to be vulnerable in often maddening ways-must make a decision: live comfortably or live truthfully. I could see it forever, for us: walking through cities, laughing at things that weren’t that funny.” When Julian tells her he’s returning to Hong Kong, she must navigate the precarious situation she’s inadvertently created. During an evening stroll, she thinks: “I didn't need to know how other women went about being together. Telling neither the full truth about the other, Ava finds herself falling in love with Edith. With Ava still living in Julian’s apartment, she and Edith fall into a quick friendship that evolves into a relationship. When Julian leaves for London on an extended work project, Ava meets Edith, a Hong Kong local and ambitious lawyer. As they fall into a quasi-relationship, Ava moves into his apartment, where Julian allows her to live rent-free. ![]() In her first months as an expat, she meets Julian-a 28-year-old English banker-who seems aloof about everything except his job. Noting that the school hires only white people, she remarks: “Like sharks’ teeth, teachers dropped out and were replaced.” From the jump, Ava approaches the world with cleareyed humor. In Irish author Dolan's debut novel, 22-year-old narrator Ava relocates from Dublin to Hong Kong to teach grammar at a school for English-language learners. A young millennial finds herself in a love triangle with a man and woman. ![]()
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