Good Material

Every relationship has one beginning.This one has two endings.Andy loves Jen. Jen loved Andy.And he can't work out why she stopped.Now he is. . .1. Without a home2. Waiting for his stand-up career to take off3. Wondering why everyone else around him seems to have grown up while he wasn't lookingSet adrift on the sea of heartbreak at a time when everything he thought he knew about women, and flat-sharing, and his friendships has transformed beyond recognition, Andy clings to the idea of solving the puzzle of their broken relationship. Because if he can find the answer to that, then maybe Jen can find her way back to him.Andy still has a lot to learn, not least his ex-girlfriend's side of the story.

If Dolly’s memoir Everything I Know About Love summed up being twentysomething then this, her second novel, is a tender and funny love letter to our tumultuous 30s Red
Brilliantly observed … Beautifully written, pacy and excellent on rejection, friendship and letting go. Fabulous Daily Mail
Laugh-out-loud dialogue on every page ... No-one has a firmer grasp on the themes she explores. Good material, indeed Sunday Express
Funny, sad and true; a book she has clearly poured her soul into ... Cements her status as a fiction heavyweight inews, The best new books to read in November 2023
This is the greatest. You’ll cry and laugh. I read it through the night. And I never, ever avoid sleep Claudia Winkleman
It's so good. I loved it Sharon Horgan
Leaves you heartsore but happier. Irresistible Richard E. Grant
Made me laugh while punching me in the gut. Loved this book Aisling Bea
Sharply written and acutely observed ... A beautifully nuanced portrayal of modern love that will have you racing to the last page Heat
Have you ever wondered what a lost love was thinking? In this ingeniously constructed and endlessly amusing novel, Dolly Alderton flips the script on everything we think we know about romantic loss, to bring us an unforgettable character on a deeply relatable downward spiral. Wise and relatable and pee-your-pants funny. I cried by page 5. Dolly Alderton is, quite simply, the bard of modern day love Lena Dunham
WONDERFUL ... Shot through with Dolly's characteristic emotional intelligence ... Very funny ... Such a pleasure to read. I devoured it ... I award it 13/10 on my QWJ scale (stands for Queasy With Jealousy that I didn't write it) Marian Keyes
I adored it! I ... Dolly is THE comic writer of our generation. This feels like her most ambitious book yet, and it delivers on every single page. She uses humour so brilliantly to underpin the quiet roar of romantic despair - this book is raw, smart and human. This makes me believe Dolly knows everything there is to know about love. Daisy Buchanan
Dolly Alderton just gets better and better. Good Material is both heartbreaking and hilarious with an ending that has you holding your breath. With the wit of Nick Hornby and the emotional scalpel of Nora Ephron, Alderton is one of our greats and this is sure to be an absolute classic Emma Gannon
A relatable, laugh-out-loud story of a thirtysomething failed comedian struggling with a break-up Sunday Times Style
Good Material combines Alderton’s wit and eye for detail with a beautiful depth of emotion Woman & Home
Genuinely laugh-out-loud funny – with characters straight out of a Richard Curtis film – whipsmart dialogue and relatable millennial themes (Alderton’s forte) mean there’s never a dull moment ... Thought-provoking and wise The Independent, Best New Books to Read This Autumn
The author of Everything I Know About Love nails the zeitgeist with a witty, relatable and acutely insightful page-turner about the trails and tribulations of the lovelorn Daily Express
Dolly Alderton is the Adele of writing Esther Coren, The Spike
Witty, warm and well-observed Fabulous Magazine
A funny, tender novel about human relationships. By turns, laugh-out-loud, eye-roll relatable, and 'stop you in your tracks' heart-wrench. A thoroughly modern romantic masterpiece. Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina
Highly relatable for millennials navigating dating in London, and hugely insightful for those generations wanting to understand them. Packed with sharp observations and wisdom. A triumph Sathnam Sanghera
Alderton entertains with observational quips about thirtysomething life ... There's a Hornby-esque charm to her well-meaning characters and their relatable dramas The Observer
The bestselling author brings her warmth, emotional intelligence and wry observation to bear on her second novel ... Refreshing The Bookseller, Editor's Choice
Alderton is perceptive about how men deal (badly) with emotional pain The Times
Relatable, funny and refreshing Elle
[A] book to be devoured, adored, underlined, and passed on (but only to the friends you know will give it back) ... [Alderton] proves herself once again as having both a deep understanding of the intricacies of relationships and the ability to articulate it better than the majority of us ever could ...Good Material showcases Alderton’s knack for rich characterisation and zippy dialogue like never before ... Genuinely funny – if only more books made you laugh as much as this The i
All of Alderton's considerable gifts as a writer are on display here: her wit, her ability to capture exchanges that feel real, and her skilful characterisation ... Alderton's work truly shines when she writes about friendship Sunday Independent
With distinct notes of Helen Fielding, Richard Curtis and Nick Hornby ... Warm and generous ... A writer very much in control of her material Guardian
Alderton is excellent at fusing poignant tenderness with wry observations about modern life, and that talent is on full display here. Good Material is a highly enjoyable exploration of the messy, non-binary nature of many break-ups, and how two people can simply make a terrible couple ... If you're on the hunt for a readable romcom to inhale in a few sittings, this is very good material Stylist
Funny, tender and astute on heartbreak Mail on Sunday
This is Dolly Alderton's best book yet ... Alderton is a great social chronicler: her observations here about thirty-something friendship and the differences (or not) between millennials and Gen Z feel particularly true. But most crucially, this is a tender, bittersweet portrait of the addictive fug of longterm monogamy – and the crushing pain when it ends The i – All I want for Christmas: Which books should you buy for your loved ones this year?
Brilliantly observed ... addictive Daily Mail
Comical yet warming Psychologies
A brilliantly observed portrait of a break-up, which examines how miserable it is to become obsessed with the unknown reasons a relationship has ended. Andy can’t understand why Jen no longer wants to be with him. The more he thinks about it the madder he feels but he can’t stop. Addictive Daily Mail – Christmas Books: Best way to survive Christmas? Read a really good book!
I’ve already bought several copies of Dolly Alderton’s Good Material for the men and women in my life, and I will continue the rampage through the festive season. It’s the perfect blend of easy to read, funny and extremely astute The Observer – Books of the year 2023
Failing stand-up comedian Andy is devastated when his girlfriend Jen breaks up with him out of the blue. Alderton explores the trials and tribulations of finding yourself unexpectedly single in your mid-30s in a novel as witty as it is perceptive Daily Express – Stocking fillers: What were the must read novels of 2023?
The most book-based fun I had this year ... It’s the most I’ve laughed while reading about heartbreak since Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity. A complete delight The Sunday Times – My favourite read of the year, Charlotte Ivers
Funny – of course it’s funny – but also smart, insightful and sincere about heartbreak David Nicholls, author of One Day
Like Nora Ephron, with a British twist … Delivers the most delightful aspects of classic romantic comedy—snappy dialogue, realistic relationship dynamics, humorous meet-cutes and misunderstandings—and leaves behind the clichéd gender roles and traditional marriage plot The New York Times
Some writers suffer from second-novel syndrome, but not Dolly Alderton ... Genuinely laugh-out-loud funny – with characters straight out of a Richard Curtis film ... Thought-provoking and wise. Independent, Best new books for summer
A moving break-up story that everyone who has ever been dumped will relate to The Sun
A bittersweet comedy of modern love Daily Mail
No one writes about relationships quite like [Dolly Alderton]…This novel is filled with shrewd observations about friendship, ageing and lost love, but also happens to be laugh-out-loud funny The i Paper – Best new paperbacks for summer

Dolly Alderton is an award-winning author, screenwriter and journalist based in London. She is a columnist for the Sunday Times Style magazine and has also written for GQ, Red, Marie Claire and Grazia. She is the former co-host and co-creator of the podcast The High Low. Her first book, Everything I Know About Love, became a top-five Sunday Times bestseller in its first week of publication, won a National Book Award (UK) for Autobiography of the Year and was made into a BBC One TV series. Ghosts, her first novel, was an instant Sunday Times bestseller. Dear Dolly, a collection of her agony aunt columns from the Sunday Times Style magazine, was published in 2022 and was also a Sunday Times bestseller.

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