CONFESSIONS OF A FORTY-SOMETHING F**K UP

A woman returns to London to start over in her 40s.

Nell Stevens thought she would have everything figured out by the time she was 40-something. And by “everything” she meant an Instagrammable idyll: husband, children, beautiful home, and, somehow, the body of a bikini model. Instead, she has left the fiance she was living with in California and returned to England, heartbroken, broke, and very lonely. Nell spends a great deal of time in the first half of the book bemoaning her failure to have a social media–worthy life and assuming that everyone else she knows is enjoying total success because they are married and have kids. She is breezily depressed, chattily self-deprecating, and often funny, but the highly conversational tone keeps readers at arm’s length. Hiding under these woes is the spark of a woman who knows who she is—who enthusiastically lets her goddaughter bury her in the playground sandbox, who becomes great friends with an older widow, who wholeheartedly loves the dog that comes with her flatshare and isn’t afraid to have it out with his owner/her landlord, an eco-obsessive who prefers to keep the flat freezing and dark. Also hiding is the reason her past relationship fell apart, which takes a while to come to light. Once Nell starts to find her footing, the narrative energy picks up and big life events start occurring, giving the reader a slight sense of whiplash. Nell also starts the titular podcast, which goes viral and allows her friends and women everywhere to stop pretending their lives are perfect.

A pleasant-enough romp over well-trodden territory.