Animals

It is the moment every twenty-something must confront: the time to grow up. Adulthood looms, with all it's numbing tranquillity and stifling complacency. The end of prolonged adolescence is near"What makes this novel so fresh are the unexpected turns the story takes and the vividness, urgency and idiosyncratic panache of Unsworth’s writing” - The New York TimesLaura and Tyler are two women whose twenties have been a blur of overstayed parties, a fondness for drugs that have shifted from cautious experimentation to catholic indulgence, and hangovers that don't relent until Monday morning. They've been best friends, partners in excess, for the last ten years.But things are changing: Laura is engaged to Jim, a classical pianist who has long since given up the carousing lifestyle. He disapproves of Tyler's reckless ways and of what he perceives to be her bad influence on Laura. Jim pulls Laura toward adulthood and responsibility, toward what society says she should be, but Tyler isn't ready to let her go. But what does Laura want for herself? "In Unsworth’s second novel, two women confront the end of their carefree, party-going 20s... speak[ing] to the books' moving examination of friendship and whether it can survive as time passes, people change, and the responsibilities of adulthood beckon. A deep, honest meditation on all the drama and intimacy of female friendships." - Kirkus ReviewRaw, uproarious, and deeply affecting, Animals speaks to an entire generation caught between late adolescence and adulthood wondering what exactly they'll have to give up in order to grow up. "Be inspired by this celebration of female friendship, of women behaving badly, and of the need to make room in your life not only for the people you love, but for yourself.” - The Independent "An utterly triumphant ode to female friendship, in all its intense, messy and powerful beauty" from the internationally bestselling author of Grown Ups ( Elle ). It is the moment every twenty-something must confront: the time to grow up. Adulthood looms, with all its numbing tranquility and stifling complacency. The end of prolonged adolescence is near. Laura and Tyler are two women whose twenties have been a blur of overstayed parties, a fondness for drugs that has shifted from cautious experimentation to catholic indulgence, and hangovers that don't relent until Monday morning. They've been best friends, partners in excess, for the last ten years. But things are changing: Laura is engaged to Jim, a classical pianist who has long since given up the carousing lifestyle. He disapproves of Tyler's reckless ways and of what he perceives to be her bad influence on Laura. Jim pulls Laura toward adulthood and responsibility, toward what society says she should be, but Tyler isn't ready to let her go. But what does Laura want for herself? And how can she choose between Tyler and Jim, between one life she loves and another she's "supposed" to love? Raw, uproarious, and deeply affecting, Animals speaks to an entire generation caught between late-adolescence and adulthood wondering what exactly they'll have to give up in order to grow up. "An emotionally complex and often go-for-broke-witty book about the difficulty of letting go, of making choices for yourself, of discovering that the relationships you cling to hardest may be the ones that damage you most." — The New York Times "Three cheers for this take of alcoholic love between platonic soul mates." —Lena Dunham It is the moment every twenty-something must confront: the time to grow up. Adulthood looms, with all it's numbing tranquility and stifling complacency. The end of prolonged adolescence is near. Laura and Tyler are two women whose twenties have been a blur of overstayed parties, a fondness for drugs that has shifted from cautious experimentation to catholic indulgence, and hangovers that don't relent until Monday morning. They've been best friends, partners in excess, for the last ten years. But things are changing: Laura is engaged to Jim, a classical pianist who has long since given up the carousing lifestyle. He disapproves of Tyler's reckless ways and of what he percieves to be her bad influence on Laura. Jim pulls Laura toward adulthood and responsibility, toward what society says she should be, but Tyler isn't ready to let her go. But what does Laura want for herself? And how can she choose between Tyler and Jim, between one life she loves and another she's "supposed" to... You know how it is. Saturday afternoon. You wake up and you can't move. I blinked and the floaters on my eyeballs shifted to reveal Tyler in her ratty old kimono over in the doorway. 'Way I see it,' she said, glass in one hand, lit cigarette in the other, 'girls are tied to beds for two reasons: sex and exorcisms. So, which was it with you?' Laura and Tyler are best friends who live together, angrily philosophising and leading each other astray in the pubs and flats of Manchester. But things are set to change. Laura is engaged to teetotal Jim, the wedding is just months away, and Tyler becomes hell-bent on sabotaging her friend's plans for a different life. Animals is a hilarious, moving and refreshingly honest tale of how a friendship can become the ultimate love story.