The Happy Couple by Naoise Dolan: Acid-tongued campaign against spoilt brats and twisted romance

In her follow-up to Exciting Times, Dolan has created an antihero so spineless and amoral he is probably recognisable to anyone who dates

Writing with a sting: Naoise Dolan. Photo by Gerry Mooney

Maggie Armstrong

Naoise Dolan’s 2020 debut, Exciting Times, concerned a small backstabbing circle of 20-somethings sleeping their way around ex-pat Hong Kong. Her brilliance as an observer of young lives was quickly understood and the book sold well internationally, and she was shortlisted for a number of awards including the Women’s Prize for Fiction.