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Lazy City

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Lazy City

By: Rachel Connolly
Narrated by: Ruby Campbell
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About this listen

Following the death of her best friend, Erin has to get out of London. Returning home to Belfast, an au pair job provides a partial refuge from her grief and her volatile relationship with her mother. She spends late nights at the bar where her old friend Declan works, and there Erin meets an American academic who is also looking to get lost. Her unlikely, secretive relationship with religion offers a different kind of sanctuary altogether.

Lazy City explores coming of age in a place where everyone is picking up the pieces and belongs to a generation that, at the precipice of climate crisis, isn't going to get the future it was expecting. A startlingly fresh and original voice - jarringly funny, sometimes cranky, often hungover - Rachel Connolly sharply depicts the strange, meandering aftermath that follows disaster.

©2023 Rachel Connolly (P)2023 Canongate Books Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Funny

Critic reviews

'Somehow both tightly controlled and highly spontaneous, Rachel Connolly's Lazy City is refreshingly open to the world. Frank, attentive, free of artifice or emotional contrivances, Connolly brings something new to any subject she shines her singular intelligence on.' (NICOLE FLATTERY)

'In the wry and compassionate Lazy City, Rachel Connolly deftly captures both the intoxicating chaos and listlessness of young adulthood, when life seems both full of possibility and impossibly elusive.' (COLIN BARRETT)

'This restless, big-hearted, accomplished novel examines the delicate, elaborate fabric of communication after grief. In a voice that is skirting, comic and attentive, Lazy City embodies the traits I admire in Rachel Connolly's writing: its charisma, nervous energy and verve.' (LUCIE ELVEN)
All stars
Most relevant
Sorry not for me, self indulgent at the end. From Belfast, got the idea but dull.. Truly pointless story, felt like author didn’t think about the reader… feel bad writing this, but kept listening hoping for more and it didn’t come

Just didn’t go anywhere

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One of the best performances I've heard on Audible; I will be seeking out other books that Ruby Campbell has brought to life.

Loved this story and the realistic- and often heartbreaking- rendering of Belfast and it's people. Erin will stay in my heart for a long time.

A beautiful exploration of love, friendship and how we live

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I loved this book. Beautifully written, it made me feel what it's like to live in the Belfast of today which is thankfully so different from my time. Superbly read also.

Poetic contemporary voice.

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Beautifully written account of a young woman’s struggles in the aftermath of her friends death. Understated but alive with imagery and descriptions which capture the essence of everyday life.
Highly recommended +++

Stunning & original

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Perfectly, descriptive insight into an oridinary life. The book doesn't have or need dramatic events to keep you gripped. It felt like people watching but through my ears. Narratored beautifully.

Beautiful

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