Banal Nightmare

'Halle Butler is a first-rate satirist of the horror show being sold to us as Modern Femininity. She is Thomas Bernhard in a bad mood, wearing ill-fitting tights, scrutinizing old take-out leftovers' CATHERINE LACEY

A breakup. A college town. A group of jealous friends, tipping towards middle age. They go to parties, size each other up. At night, they obsess over past slights, dream of wild triumphs and indulge in elaborate revenge fantasies, all while imagining themselves at the beating heart of various political causes.

The cast of BANAL NIGHTMARE find themselves revolving around the same questions - the choice between freedom and defeat, ambition and humility, and the need to 'speak their truth' and the tendency to slip into brazenly confrontational behaviour.

In this brilliant, hilariously perceptive, and sadistically precise new satire, Halle Butler writes our reality askance, turning a keen eye to the so-called "stability" found in adulthood milestones. In doing so, she once again captures the volatile, angry, surreal, aggrieved, and entirely disorienting atmosphere of our current era.

• Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
• ISBN: 9781399618212
• Number of pages: 320
• Dimensions: 222 x 138 mm