Whenever You’re Ready
An unexpected death finds Lizzie, Alice and Margot at various crossroads in their lives, caught between looking back and moving on.
Lizzie is reeling from a decades-old secret that changes everything she thought she knew about her friends, her family and her marriage. Alice has always been the good-time girl, as charismatic presenting the weather on television as she is working as a life model. But decades of piecemeal work have left her with a safety net that is rapidly unravelling. Meanwhile, Lizzie's perfectionist daughter Margot is realising that, despite having built herself a faultlessly curated life, she hasn't put her troubled past behind her as neatly as she thought she had.
Whenever You're Ready is a wise, wry, and wistful novel about grief, family, female friendship, ageing and ageism, that will appeal to fans of The Weekend by Charlotte Wood who have been looking for a similar ensemble drama with authentic, richly drawn characters.
Reviews for Whenever You’re Ready
“Bolton is a natural-born storyteller and her debut novel is a gift to us all.”
“Social commentary shot through with wicked humour. I loved it.”
“Tender, warm-hearted and wise.”
“The grief in Bolton’s novel is weighty and pervasive, but her tone is light and matter-of-fact; it’s as if Sally Hepworth wrote Jennifer Down’s Bodies of Light.”
“Engaging, moving and full of heart.”
“The grief in Bolton’s novel is weighty and pervasive, but her tone is light and matter-of-fact; it’s as if Sally Hepworth wrote Jennifer Down’s Bodies of Light. ”
“Trish Bolton renders visible the complex lives of older women who are so often invisible in our culture. A page-turner of a novel. ”
“An emotion-packed read and also a convincing one, Whenever You’re Ready takes a clear-eyed look at how it is to grow older.”
“Bolton draws strong but nuanced characters with considerable perceptiveness, and her crisp prose style fuses wit and wisdom with a rare lightness of touch.”
“Natural storyteller Bolton’s debut novel is a staggeringly ambitious and thought-provoking dive into the lives of three women who must face up to change in the wake of sudden loss.”
“Whenever You’re Ready is a fine debut, one suffused with heart, compassion and forgiveness for the sins of friends.”
“Each of the women in this novel feels like she could be a friend.”
“Trish Bolton has created a beautiful story in her debut novel Whenever You’re Ready, a tale that brims with heart, warmth, wit, tenderness, compassion and the knowing wisdom that comes with each passing year.”
“Whenever You’re Ready is a much-needed documenting of the very real difficulties experienced by older women. It never diminishes the characters by treating them as stereotypes…”
“It is a superb book. Classy. Clever. Real. Bravo!”
“Trish is a wonderful storyteller. The characters are wonderful commentaries on the societal issues facing women. Very clever, could not put it down.”
Whenever You’re Ready in the media
Arts Hub: Move over Millennials, it’s time for older women to shine
The Sunday Age: When I let my hair go grey, I didn’t expect to become invisible
The Conversation: I hope publishers will be brave, older women are often erased in fiction
The Guardian: You’re covered in wrinkles. You’re no longer interesting. The books making older women visible