The Startup Wife cover art

The Startup Wife

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

The Startup Wife

By: Tahmima Anam
Narrated by: Tanha Dil
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £13.27

Buy Now for £13.27

Season's Savings | £0.99/mo for 3 months

£5.99/mo after 3 months - terms apply. Cancel monthly

LONGLISTED FOR THE COMEDY WOMEN IN PRINT PRIZE 2022/23

'Poignant as well as savagely witty' Observer
'Stylish and funny' Sunday Times
'Hits every note perfectly' Kamila Shamsie

A life-changing app.
The woman who created it.
And the man who took the credit.

When Asha starts work on a revolutionary app together with her new husband Cyrus, she’s thrilled. But while she creates an ingenious algorithm, Cyrus’ charismatic appeal throws him into the spotlight. What happens when the app explodes into the next big thing?

Gripping, witty and razor-sharp, The Startup Wife is a blistering novel about big ambitions, speaking out and standing up for what you believe in.

 Contemporary Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Islamic Heritage Witty
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic reviews

"Pulses with up-to-the-minute topicality . . . as high-octane entertainment that hits notes poignant as well as savagely witty, it soars"
"Fresh, funny, brave, savage, smart – Tahmima Anam hits every note perfectly in this novel about our new reality and the age-old problems of men and women that no app can fix" (KAMILA SHAMSIE)
"Impossibly timely and bewilderingly smart" (ELIF SHAFAK)
"A funny, poignant, and piercingly satirical take on startup culture" (TULIP SIDDIQ)
"Excellent on the intricacies of sexism and racism (Asha is Bengali) and how migrant experiences differ . . . Anam’s writing is stylish and funny . . . and she guides the reader deftly towards a satisfying conclusion"
"A sparkling comedy about love, work and the search for meaning in our lives, that is funny, tender, sometimes raunchy, always smart. It satirises these crazy times, but with compassion and elegance. A rambunctious, radiant riot of a novel" (MONICA ALI)
"[A] sparky satire of startup culture and the modern search for meaning . . . Smart and funny on culture clashes, male-female dynamics and the cult of wellness"
"An extremely enjoyable, feminist rom-com – gloriously readable, irresistibly funny and even smarter than you realise until you turn the final, triumphant page. I loved this novel" (GILLIAN ANDERSON)
"Well-observed and funny: Anam deftly skewers a world of polished concrete and exposed brick, deranged venture capitalists and apocalypse-obsessed entrepreneurs . . . zippy and smart"
"I raced through this beautifully written, often hilarious and always thought-provoking book about big tech, love, faith and chasing dreams . . . fabulous"
All stars
Most relevant
The battle of the sexes (particularly an inter-racial one tangled in cultural identity) is explored within a thoroughly present day scenario involving social media, high tech and extremely innovative ideas makes for an interesting read.

An unusual mixture of modernity and an age-old war

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In 'The Startup Wife', Asha Ray, a techie genius, gets together with the charismatic Cyrus Jones, and they launch themselves into a startup, the ramifications of which are beyond what either of them could have imagined.

The themes range from creativity, change, love, empowerment, race, and gender issues, to the almost apocalyptic dangers of technology.

Tahmima imagines a world not so far removed from the one we live in. Her scarily plausible story is told with quirky humour and impressive knowledge of how things would work in the innovative platform she creates.

I found the characters believable, the writing superb, and the plot skilfully crafted.

Sadly, I found the narration disappointing, compared with dozens of audiobooks I have listened to.

It seemed jerky, with unnatural pauses throughout ‘...individual algorithmic (pause) outcomes...’ ; ‘...that (pause) only I can decipher...’

The intonation and accent were the same throughout the book (except once towards the end when Asha got angry), so, for example, what was quoted in a ‘perfect clipped English accent’ was read in the same tone and accent as ‘“Hello.” My voice quivers.’ Not a touch of English accent nor a quiver to be heard.

However I soon got used to it snd it did not detract from my enjoyment and appreciation of the story.

Brilliant book, disappointing narration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved this story. As a startup founder I found it relatable, touching, funny and sad. But my gosh, I’ve never heard such a terrible narrator. Her tone was rather monotonous, she added pauses and stops in sentences that shouldn’t have been there, she inflected at the end of most statements made (I’d like to say at the end of each sentence but it was also at the end of every part she paused at in the middle of sentences). She did not distinguish tone, voice, character in any way when narrating each character and so it was hard to distinguish the varying roles. Just awful. So disappointing. Please universe, make it so no one ever hires her to narrate another book!

Great book, shame about the awful narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The book was ok but I do think I might have enjoyed it more if I had preferred the narrator’s style. As others have mentioned I found her pace and the inflections she used hugely distracting

Ok

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Really peculiar reading style, as other reviewers have said, in groups of words unrelated to the punctuation or emotion. Made it very difficult to listen to.

Book might be ok, but reader is sure!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.