Really Good, Actually: The must-read major Sunday Times bestselling debut novel of 2023
£8.10£9.50 (-15%)
The No. 2 SUNDAY TIMES Bestseller
An Observer Best Debut of the Year
‘Intoxicating … heralds a really good author to watch’ THE TIMES
‘Hilarious and profound’ DOLLY ALDERTON
‘Wildly funny and almost alarmingly relatable’ MARIAN KEYES
‘Monica Heisey is a genius’ NINA STIBBE
One of the most hotly anticipated, hilarious and addictive debut novels of 2023, from Schitt’s Creek and Workin’ Moms screenwriter and electric new voice in fiction, Monica Heisey.
I feel like when you get a divorce everyone’s wondering how you ruined it all, what made you so unbearable to be with. If your husband dies, at least people feel bad for you.
Maggie’s marriage has ended just 608 days after it started, but she’s fine – she’s doing really good, actually. Sure, she’s alone for the first time and can’t afford her rent and her obscure PhD is going nowhere… but at the age of twenty-nine, Maggie is determined to embrace her new status as a Surprisingly Young Divorcée™.
As Maggie throws herself headlong into the chaos of her first year of divorce, she soon finds herself questioning everything, including: Why do we still get married? Did I fail before I even got started? And how many 4am delivery burgers do I need to eat until I am happy?
Laugh-out-loud funny, razor sharp and painfully relatable, Really Good, Actually is an irresistible debut novel about the uncertainties of modern love, friendship and happiness from a stunning new voice in fiction, Monica Heisey.
‘Hilarious, heart-warming, wise’ PAULA HAWKINS
‘Monica Heisey makes me laugh hard and often’ ROB DELANEY
‘A Sex and The City for social media-obsessed millennials … Irresistible’ METRO
‘Wry, modern, self-deprecating’ INDEPENDENT
‘Already one of the most talked-about releases for 2023’ EVENING STANDARD
Monica Heisey’s book ‘Really Good, Actually’ was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 06-02-2023.
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by KB Tournier
Very zeitgeisty and so full of in-jokes and perhaps Canadian cultural references that I was frankly bewildered by some sentences.
Anyone who has been through a break up will feel the pathos and recognise the irritations of a partner’s habits and foibles but the self pitying tone over and over with no plot makes this a really tedious read.
One of the few books I won’t get around to finishing and I don’t like giving up, but it’s annoying and boring.
by Dara
Thoroughly enjoyed this but am pretty sure that’s mostly to do with the fact I could heavily, recently relate! That aside, it was an easy read that flowed well – it was reasonable enough that it felt like real life but with just enough little twists and slightly OTT drama to make it more interesting than real life! Only not a 5 star because I’m stingy with them and reserve them for would-read-again’s and everyone-should-read-this-book’s and I don’t think (m)any book in this genre could fit either of those categories, so it’s not the book’s fault! If you like a good chick-lit, particularly if you’re a divorcee in your 20s/30s, definitely give it a read.
by Victoria
Maggie, at 29, is left dealing with the ending of her marriage after only 608 days. But she’s really good, actually! Or is she? She has a job she doesn’t love and left facing her life not being anywhere near she expected it to be. She vows to take charge of her life.
This book has all the feels and is completely relatable in every way! Watching Maggie deal with the breakdown of her marriage and face life head on as a new divorcee is messy and complex, in the most beautiful, real, and honest way possible.
Sometimes it’s OK to not be ok, but the important part is realising that and picking yourself back up, dusting yourself off and plodding forward anyway, which is what we watch Maggie do during her year of separation towards divorce.
The cringing as we watch Maggie go through all the turmoil of divorce, the ghosting from her soon to be ex-husband, and the online dating scene (a jungle itself) is laugh out loud funny. Couple this with the satisfaction of successfully pull herself back together and reach, not necessarily where she wanted to be, but where she needed to be, taking each day a step at a time was heartwarmingly enjoyable!
The characters, the writing, and the drama of the plot all blended together perfectly, making Really Good, Actually so much more than really good!
by Kindle Customer
I enjoyed this book but it wasn’t an all time favourite. It had funny parts and felt relatable as someone in my 30s
by Abstract
The author’s talent is not in dispute, especially within the book’s opening pages which are zingy, insightful and full of promise. Alas, though, I was so sick of the main character by the end – in fact I was sick of her a third of the way through. There’s no plot really. A woman is dumped and the book documents her feelings about it. That’s it. A very one-note piece of work. It would be interesting to see if the author could apply her fabulous writing talent to a fleshed-out story, with the micro-observations about inner life dialled right down. That’s what I hope she might do.
by Ninaminacat
For me the title acts as a pretty good description of the book, since I love a character driven novel – and we certainly get to know Maggie, a soon-to-be divorcee, well during the course of the book. The other characters are not so well developed, but since the narrative is purely from the protagonist’s self-absorbed point of view, this just fits with her view of the world.
I suspect the key to your reaction will rest on a few basic premises: is it essential to like the protagonist? do you need a tight plot? is plenty of action important to you? If you answered yes to any of these questions, I suspect you may struggle with this book. Probably break-ups don’t bring out the best in any of us and this is certainly true of Maggie. (There is, of course, the question of why the divorce came about in the first place…) The plot, if you can call it one, simply shows us Maggie’s self-destructive behaviour on the route to divorce. In terms of action, very little happens, but emotionally – wow! What a train wreck!
Some reviewers have felt that this novel is more likely to appeal to readers in their 20s or 30s. I am considerably older than this and still enjoyed “Really Good, Actually”.
I hope all this will help you decide if it’s a book for you.
by Joanne
Really loved this book, just couldn’t get enough of it. I really enjoyed the style of writing and laughed and cried all the way though. It felt like a really honest portrayal of internal thoughts and feelings that often aren’t admitted out loud! Hoping for more from the author soon!
by LesleyB
I bought this to take on holiday to Toronto and it’s based Toronto! Spooky! It took a bit to get into it but it improved. Over half the book is about the character feeling sad/lonely/a failure and it’s a bit dreary but then you realise that she’s on a journey of discovery about herself! Lots of people in Toronto were reading it too!