The Post-Birthday World

Can the course of life hinge on a single kiss? Whether American expatriate Irina McGovern does or doesn’t lean into a certain pair of lips in London will determine if she stays with her smart, disciplined, intellectual American partner, Lawrence, or runs off with Ramsey—a wild, exuberant British snooker star she and her husband have known for years.    In The Post-Birthday World, international bestselling author Lionel Shriver uses a parallel-universe structure to examine the implications—large and small—of whom we choose to love. As Irina’s two departing futures unfold, Shriver pits one flawed-but decent man against another with all the subtlety, perceptiveness and drama that made her last novel, We Need to Talk About Kevin, the winner of the 2005 Orange Prize.