LIVING OUR BEST LIES

Claire Purcell

RIGHTS AVAILABLE: All rights handled by the bks Agency

A dark, and darkly comic, chick-lit-with-a-trigger-warning debut novel about the things we keep from the people we love, and how the lies we tell ourselves are the most dangerous of all …

Isabel thought she’d have her shit together by now. At 32, all of the normal adulting milestones are passing her by, while her longtime friends Emily and Jenna – one about to make partner at a law firm, the other an Instagram-famous Interior Designer and Mum – are ticking all of the #bestlife boxes. Meanwhile, she’s swiping left on a life of disappointing dick pics and credit card debt.

But as Jenna grapples with a secret that threatens her relationship, and Emily struggles under the increasingly toxic pressures of work, Isabel wonders whether the grass really is greener on the other side. While she and her friends meet weekly and supposedly tell each other everything, the lies and judgements linger just below the surface, threatening to tear everything apart.

“I don’t think it technically counts as identity fraud if you use somebody’s fingerprint to open their phone and order yourself an Uber, but if it is, then I am guilty at least ten times over. I can’t be arguing about taxis with the muddled consciousness of a recently-ejaculated man, and I think we’re all better off if I just sort myself a car home, so this has become a regular practice for me. If they do text the next day (which is rare), then nobody has ever dared question who funded my ride. That night, I made it home in time for a very quick wank, 2 hours of sleep, and a frantic shower. Emily was none-the-wiser when I met her before my 8 am shift at Brady’s, which was either testament to my make-up skills, or a damning critique of my everyday appearance. I remain blissfully ignorant of the answer. “

Claire Purcell is the lead writer for Fablecraft, a digital TTRPG, based in London and, sometimes, in New York. After escaping the intoxicating throes of Wolverhampton life, Claire started out in publishing and then built a successful career as a freelance copywriter, helping brands to define their personality through ingeniously quippy headlines, ads, web copy, and more. Claire now indulges her inner (and outer) game-nerd by conjuring up magical adventures for the tabletop roleplaying game from games company Riftweaver. She is married to an American (hence the New York thing), and they live with two cats and an inexplicably large dog.