Olive

By Emma Gannon

The debut novel that everyone’s talking about from the Sunday Times bestselling author, Emma Gannon.

‘Explores such an important topic with a lightness and warmth’ Dolly Alderton
‘Thoughtful, funny, and honest’ Elizabeth Gilbert
‘It'll give a voice to countless women’ Marian Keyes

Olive and her friends have shared every milestone.

From first loves and first heartbreaks to flatshares and the first scary steps into the real world, they’ve been through it all – together.

But in the maze of life, through the winding paths that lead to different choices and different futures, will the bonds of friendship hold strong when Olive needs them most?

Moving, memorable and a mirror for anyone at a crossroads, OLIVE is a love letter to the life raft of female friendship and reminds us how, with a little courage, we can all follow our own paths.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Jul 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9780008382711

Emma Gannon

Emma Gannon is an award-winning writer, speaker, Sunday Times columnist and podcaster. Her writing has been published everywhere from the Guardian to Glamour. She is the bestselling author of memoir Ctrl Alt Delete and The Multi-Hyphen Method, which became a Sunday Times bestseller. She is also the host of hit podcast series ‘Ctrl Alt Delete’, which has reached over 5 million downloads. Olive is Emma’s debut novel.

Reviews for Olive

[thewestwing-864351 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4.5 stars - I really enjoyed this book. I see that from other reviews, some people really didn’t like the character of Olive, but I found her very relatable. I thought the story was a realistic look at adult friendships and the trials that can occur as people move into other seasons of life.

[bonnie_ferrante · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Olive is a thoughtful woman in her early 30s going through some major life changes. She has shared everything with her three best friends since they were tiny but they are becoming distant since she is walking a different path. In the 30s women must make their decision of whether to have children or not.One of her. friends has three children, one is pregnant, and one is undergoing expensive and painful procedures to try to conceive. Olive has never wanted children and society gives her the impression that something is wrong with her. Women without children are to be pitied or not trusted. If you don’t want them now you will later. There’s constant pressure to have a real family. To make matters worse, Olive's boyfriend of 10 years wants to have children and he’s shocked to find out she seriously is committed to being parentless. The book explores societal pressures on women to bear children, even pressuring each other. The book explores how life changes affect relationships as we watch the young women struggle with demands of their families, society, and their own needs. It is a thought-provoking book and will elicit a lot of great discussion for book clubs. I thought it odd though that twice in the book, out of nowhere, she takes shots at vegans. It seemed really out of place. It was a minor diversion though.She has a casual first person contemporary young voice. Easy to read, like listening to someone telling their own story. I recommend it for anyone who is pondering the idea of whether to be a parent or not, or wants to understand the dilemma of 30-year-olds trying to decide.