Daisy Buchanan

'A raucous unravelling of female desire and bodily pleasures, in all their maddening complexity.' Emma Jane UnsworthStuck in a dead-end job, broken-hearted, broke and estranged from her best friend; Violet's life is nothing like she thought it would be. She wants more - better friends, better sex, a better job - and she wants it now. So, when Lottie - who looks like the woman Violet wants to be when she grows up - offers Violet the chance to join her exciting start-up, she bites. Only it soon becomes clear that Lottie and her husband Simon are not only inviting Violet into their company, they are also inviting her into their lives.Seduced by their townhouse, their expensive candles and their Friday-night sex parties, Violet cannot tear herself away from Lottie, Simon or their friends. But is this really the more Violet yearns for? Will it grant her the satisfaction she is so desperately seeking?Insatiable is about women and desire - lust, longing and the need to be loved. It is a story about being unable to tell whether you are running towards your future or simply running away from your past. The result is at once tender and sad, funny and hopeful.*'As filthy as it is funny, you won't be able to put it down.' Dolly Alderton'I'd call Insatiable Jilly Cooper for the Instagram generation, but that wouldn't do this book justice.' Lauren Bravo'Daisy brings characters to life like no other writer, pumping them full of humour, vulnerability and sexy sexy sex.' Lucy Vine'Gloriously rude and brave about the nature of women's desire.' Sophia Money-Coutts'I can't believe this is a fiction debut - she writes stories like she's been doing it for fifty years.' Laura Jane Williams

Insatiable

Laura Dobie

Sometimes, when I come, it's like falling into a bottomless black hole. I'm so overwhelmed by pure sensation that I feel nothing, and I revel in the escape, the chance to fully detach from my body and mind, even for less than a second. But this time, it's pure white light. I've been shot into a galaxy of luminous, trailing stars.

It's as if Sasha has entered my brain and switched all the lights on. I've never thought this way before. Growing up, I was told that ambition meant working as hard as you possibly could, no matter how unhappy it made you. I believed that I was a failure, because I earned so little, and that must mean my job wasn't as 'good' as anyone else's. I thought it was better to be miserable at a glamorous-sounding start-up than happy in a cafe or a supermarket. Perhaps this is why I fell for Lottie. In her weird way, she was the first person to make mne question what I was allowed to want - she showed me that it was OK to be greedy, for sex, success and status. But is that still what I want? Do I want those things on her terms?

I felt briefly ashamed of ever finding Izzy's Instagram insufferable, of every laboured sigh I'd released over each #yummymummy caption. Why are we so stupid? Why don't we realise that when people are trying so hard to perform and perfect their lives, it's usually a sign that they don't really like living them?

In need of entertainment, and out of anthropological curiosity, I distract myself by watching Max. He is like a children's TV character, an Eeyore if the Hundred Acre Wood was populated by the Viet Cong, Mr Magoo with an anger management problem.

My shirt is covered in tiny zebras. When I left my flat, I loved the zebras. Now I am furious with the twee, stripy fuckers. I'm going to burn this shirt.

In all honesty, I thought that working for a start-up sounded quite cool, and quite sexy. I didn't really understand that sometimes it means working for people whose business acumen' might well have been picked up while watching The Apprentice with the sound off. I didn't know that it meant I might have to wait days, or once, horribly, three weeks, after our official pay day to get my monthly money, because of 'cash flow - an excuse, presented with an airy frequency, by senior management, who suspiciously seemed to acquire brand new Macbooks at the same time. I didn't realise that while the words were all new and thrilling - passion and synergy, energy and commitment - the meaning was the same. You work late, you eat at your desk, and you won’t let anyone’s stapler get empty.

This was very funny in places, and entertainingly filthy. Lots of food for thought (and in some cases, actual food) on desire, sex, love, careers, what constitutes success in life, and working out what you really want and having the courage to pursue it.

the genre of british millennial journalists with accolades in their field who have published acclaimed non-fiction which they follow up with a fictional novel about how miserable being a millennial is and how much they want to get sexed up (i know, i have been to sunny beach) is more notable and worthy of a study in itself than any of the novels falling within it themselves, frankly.

if you are familiar with this run of published authors from the past couple of years, there is nothing to surprise you here. the novel is very readable (i did, after all, finish it in a day) albeit not necessarily very good. the erotic aspect of it is not particularly titillating and some of the choreography takes a minute to figure out, but this is neither here nor there.

towards the end it falls into wish fulfilment which comes off as the author losing conviction in the story; sort of like she had the concept for the novel and was excited to write all the erotic scenes, knew how it should logically end (with the end of the relationship between violet, lottie and simon) but could not quite flesh it out. this - by the way - appears to be a general issue of the way the novel approaches its themes and topic which it never truly delves into or explores (for example, the power imbalance between violet and lottie and simon).

regardless, the novel is not all bad and i am sure it has its audience. it just was not quite me.

p.s. but things that made my whole life flash before my eyes and start glitching:

- lottie being a brookes graduate, people still calling her an oxbridge grad, her saying she's an oxford grad and only being caught out when people ask her which college - girl. girl. if you know you know.

- violet slagging off muji candles. not on my watch!!

the genre of british millennial journalists with accolades in their field who have published acclaimed non-fiction which they follow up with a fictional novel about how miserable being a millennial is and how much they want to get sexed up (i know, i have been to sunny beach) is more notable and worthy of a study in itself than any of the novels falling within it themselves, frankly.

if you are familiar with this run of published authors from the past couple of years, there is nothing to surprise you here. the novel is very readable (i did, after all, finish it in a day) albeit not necessarily very good. the erotic aspect of it is not particularly titillating and some of the choreography takes a minute to figure out, but this is neither here nor there.

towards the end it falls into wish fulfilment which comes off as the author losing conviction in the story; sort of like she had the concept for the novel and was excited to write all the erotic scenes, knew how it should logically end (with the end of the relationship between violet, lottie and simon) but could not quite flesh it out. this - by the way - appears to be a general issue of the way the novel approaches its themes and topic which it never truly delves into or explores (for example, the power imbalance between violet and lottie and simon).

regardless, the novel is not all bad and i am sure it has its audience. it just was not quite me.

p.s. but things that made my whole life flash before my eyes and start glitching:

- lottie being a brookes graduate, people still calling her an oxbridge grad, her saying she's an oxford grad and only being caught out when people ask her which college - girl. girl. if you know you know.

- violet slagging off muji candles. not on my watch!!

Harriet Moar-Smith

This is just pure porn and not in a good way. It's porn for millennials who want more exciting sex, who want the promise of a dream job that pays well, dream about running away from their shitty relationships, realise their mates are toxic, who run back to old friends that they've wronged etc etc

It's a long string of snapshots of cliches that feel like were written out of order and then linked together tenuously. I didn't even really like the ending very much

Insatiable

Reviews

Highlights