As we alternate between the couple’s perspectives the cumulative effect of their journeys becomes quietly affecting

- Stephanie Cross, Daily Mail

I was riveted by this propulsive, calmly devastating portrayal of a couple’s separation and the lives that continue beyond it. Setterwall’s prose is never didactic, and yet she is in full command of her reader’s ambivalence towards both her protagonists and the small but shattering betrayals they endure: by each other, by their bodies and by themselves

- MARINA KEMP, author of The Unwilding,

Carolina Setterwall doesn’t shy away from darkness. <i>Opt Out</i> is a daring book, brave not least because it has the courage to point out the consequences of a divorce for the woman

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In <i>Opt Out</i>, the gaze is as relentlessly direct, heart-rending, and searching as in the debut . . . As an observant guide through the human psyche and relationships, Setterwall is astonishing

Västerbottenskuriren

Stylistically pure prose . . . Setterwall doesn’t move a centimetre away from the dry and factual, and leaves it up to the reader to fill in the emotions . . . Incredibly skillfully written

Barometern

'Propulsive and calmly devastating ... Setterwall is in full command' MARINA KEMP, author of The Unwilding
'Quietly affecting' DAILY MAIL

Everything will be fine. That is what Mary and John promise when they tell their two children that they are getting a divorce. But while the end of their marriage offers them both freedom from their dissatisfaction, it brings to the fore the pain and resentments that have always percolated through their relationship and throws into stark relief their shortcomings as partners and as parents.

While John finds a second chance at love – still retaining the support of their children – Mary is forced to contend with the fact that, having always yearned for the approval of others, she is thoroughly unprepared for the waves of change that are coming to reshape her life.

Told from the alternating perspectives of Mary and John as they navigate life in the wake of their separation, Opt Out is an astute examination of the constrictive power of gender roles, and a reckoning with our impossibly idealised conceptions of motherhood. Smart and intimate, it explores the difficulties of breaking away from the constraints of one life in pursuit of another.

Praise for Carolina Setterwall and Let’s Hope for the Best

'I've read it twice now ... Utterly compulsive' Marian Keyes
'I think the world should read it' Lisa Taddeo
'Brutally candid … The most compelling book I've read in years' The Times
'It's impossible not to draw comparisons with Karl Ove Knausgaard' Evening Standard
'Every spare, controlled sentence has the ring of truth … Gripping' Daily Mail

Les mer
From beloved author, Carolina Setterwall, a refreshingly unsentimental novel about the dissolution of a marriage, and what it means to be a ‘good’ mother, translated by International Booker-longlisted translator Deborah Bragan-Turner
Les mer
From beloved author, Carolina Setterwall, a refreshingly unsentimental novel about the dissolution of a marriage, and what it means to be a ‘good’ mother, translated by International Booker-longlisted translator Deborah Bragan-Turner
Les mer
Like a contemporary twist on the classic Swedish drama Scenes From A Marriage (or its 2021 American remake), Opt Out is a sharp and emotionally-resonant examination of the limitations of marriage and gender roles
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781526608116
Publisert
2025-08-14
Utgiver
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; Bloomsbury Circus
Vekt
480 gr
Høyde
220 mm
Bredde
144 mm
Dybde
38 mm
Aldersnivå
G, 01
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
384

Om bidragsyterne

Carolina Setterwall was born in Sala, Sweden, and is the author of Let’s Hope for the Best. After studying Media and Communication in Uppsala, Stockholm, and London she has worked within the music and publishing industries as an editor and writer. Setterwall lives in Stockholm with her son.