This Book Event has already taken place - but you can watch the replay if you missed it

Naoise Dolan – The Happy Couple

WithNaoise Dolan
In conversation withKatie Goh

At: The Portobello Bookshop

On:24th May 2023, 7:00pm - 8:00pm

Naoise Dolan – The Happy Couple at The Portobello Bookshop

We're so pleased that Naoise Dolan will be visiting us for an event to celebrate the publication of her new novel, The Happy Couple. After the international success of her bestselling debut, Exciting Times, Dolan is returning with an ensemble novel set at a wedding that explores loneliness, monogamy and modern love. Naoise will be in conversation with writer and non-fiction editor Katie Goh.

This event will take place in the bookshop with an in-person audience, as well as a livestream for attendees watching from home. There will be a signing after the event.

In-person vouchers can be redeemed on the night of the event against a single copy of The Happy Couple – we will have a list of attendees with vouchers to be redeemed. Please note that only one voucher can be redeemed per book. Livestream vouchers are valid until the day after the event and can be redeemed on our website against a single copy of The Happy Couple.

About The Happy Couple:

Meet the happy couple. Luke and Celine, are in mutual unrequited love with each other, set to marry in a year’s time.

The best man, Archie, is meant to want to move up the corporate ladder and on from his love for Luke; yet he stands where he is, admiring the view.

The bridesmaid, Phoebe, Celine’s sister, has no long-term aspirations beyond smoking her millionth cigarette and getting to the bottom of Luke’s frequent unexplained disappearances.

Then there’s the guest, Vivian, who with the benefit of some emotional distance, methodically observes her friends like ants.

As the wedding approaches and these five lives intersect, each character will find themselves looking for a path to their happily ever after – but does it lie at the end of an aisle?

Please note: Tickets for our events are non-refundable. Professional photography and videography may take place during this event. Thank you for your understanding.

Participants:

Naoise Dolan Author

Naoise Dolan is an Irish writer born in Dublin. She studied at Trinity College, followed by a master’s in Victorian literature at Oxford. She writes fiction, essays, criticism and features for publications including The London Review of Books, The Guardian and Vogue. Naoise’s debut novel EXCITING TIMES was published by W&N in the UK and by Ecco in the US in 2020, and became a Sunday Times bestseller, widely translated and optioned for TV. She has been shortlisted and longlisted for several prizes, including The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Dylan Thomas Prize and The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award.

Katie Goh Chair

Katie Goh is a writer and editor, whose award-shortlisted criticism, essays and reporting on the arts have been published in The Guardian, Vice, Prospect, i-D, Dazed, the Independent and others. Katie is the nonfiction editor for Extra Teeth and has previously been an editor for gal-dem and The Skinny. Katie's essay-length book The End: Surviving the World Through Imagined Disasters was published by 404 Ink in 2021, and her debut book of nonfiction Foreign Fruit will be published by Canongate in 2025.

The venue

The Portobello Bookshop

46 Portobello High Street
Edinburgh
EH15 1DA

Telephone: 0131 629 6756

Website: www.theportobellobookshop.com


Wheelchair Access

We have a ramp at the front of the shop which has a ratio of 1:10 and loading capacity of 300kg, and so should be able to be used by most wheelchair users or those with mobility vehicles. The front doors are fully automated. Our shop interior is designed to allow access throughout for wheelchair users and prams, though please note there is only 700mm wide clearance to access the staff toilet.

Sound

We use a PA system to enhance the audio at our live events. We also have a hearing loop system installed, if you’d like to use our loop system during an event please let us know and we’ll make sure we have it set up and connected to the live audio feed during the event. If you wish to attend an event and require BSL interpretation, please give us a few weeks notice and we’ll do our best to arrange an interpreter.