Post-Birthday World

<p><strong>Complex and nervy Shriver's clever meditation will intrigue anyone who has ever wondered how things might have turned out had they followed or ignored a life-changing impulse. --<em> People</em> (Critic's Choice)</strong></p><p><strong>This dazzling novel from the Orange Prize-winning author of the international bestseller <em>We Need to Talk About Kevin </em>takes a psychological and deeply human look at love and volition</strong></p><p>Does the course of life hinge on a single kiss? Whether the American expatriate Irena McGovern does or doesn't lean into a certain pair of lips in London will determine whether she stays with her smart disciplined intellectual American partner Lawrence or runs off with Ramsey--a wild exuberant British snooker star the couple has known for years. Employing a parallel-universe structure Shriver follows Irena's life as it unfolds under the influence of two drastically different men.</p><p>In a tour de force that remarkably has no villains Shriver explores the implications both large and small of our choice of mate--a subject of timeless universal fascination for both sexes.</p>