'The end of the affair is just the beginning
'A rich and provocative debut for fans of Lily King and Emily Maguire
'Mardi McKee, prodigal daughter, arrives at her father’s home in Lithgow, Australia, after drifting overseas for eighteen months. Her previous life is a memory. Her mother has died, she is divorced and is estranged from her former lover, Ian. Mardi had left Ian, at dawn before he awoke, with no explanation, only months after ending her marriage.
'Ian’s teenage sister, Claudia, has also arrived, escaping her childhood home for Ian’s. Spiky, lovable, lost, Claudia forges an intense friendship with Mardi. But Mardi finds that repairing her relationship with Ian is not so easily done. Mardi is hiding something and Ian is having none of her quest for forgiveness, not until she answers why she vanished without a trace.
'Set between country New South Wales, inner Sydney, and Europe, Ordinary Human Love follows Mardi as she discovers that the greatest love she will ever feel is for the man she left. In this powerful and complex debut, Melissa Goode interrogates what makes a life worthwhile, and has created a vivid, intricate portrait of the relationships that shape and connect us, and the all-consuming nature of desire.' (Publication summary)
'A debut novel that surveys intimate relationships and the nature of desire.'
'Drawing a distinction between genre fiction and literary fiction has come to seem like a reactionary gesture. Likewise, classifying a novel as romance can no longer be regarded as a pejorative act. However, when it comes to Melissa Goode’s debut novel, Ordinary Human Love, it can be useful for readers to know we are firmly in the territory of generic – one might indeed even say “ordinary” – romance.' (Introduction)
'Drawing a distinction between genre fiction and literary fiction has come to seem like a reactionary gesture. Likewise, classifying a novel as romance can no longer be regarded as a pejorative act. However, when it comes to Melissa Goode’s debut novel, Ordinary Human Love, it can be useful for readers to know we are firmly in the territory of generic – one might indeed even say “ordinary” – romance.' (Introduction)
'A debut novel that surveys intimate relationships and the nature of desire.'
