‘Hilarious and heartbreaking’ MONICA ALI ' Deeply funny and knowing' MEG WOLITZER
' Witty moving' ANN NAPOLITANO ' Poignant funny and brilliantly told' POSY
SIMMONDS An often hilarious surprisingly moving portrait of a long-married couple seen
through the eyes of their wickedly observant daughter – for fans of A Man Called Ove and The
Royal Tenenbaums . Miranda’s parents live in a dilapidated house in rural France that they
share with two llamas eight ducks five chickens two cats and a freezer full of food dating
back to 1983. Miranda’s father is a retired professor of philosophy who never loses an
argument. Her mother likes to bring conversation back to the War although she was born after
it ended. Married for fifty years they are uncommonly set in their ways. Miranda plays the
role of translator when she visits communicating the desires or complaints of one parent to
the other and then venting her frustration to her sister and her daughter. A wry propulsive
exquisitely observed story of a singularly eccentric family and the sibling rivalry
generational divides and long-buried secrets that shape them. This is an extraordinary debut
novel from a seasoned playwright with a flare for dialogue and in the end immense empathy.
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‘Hilarious and heartbreaking. Barnes’s dialogue is pitch-perfect and her characters dance off
the page and straight into your heart’ Monica Ali author of Love Marriage ‘Camilla Barnes
deftly deciphers the secret language of one family often with deeply funny and knowing
results. I loved spending time in the very specific complicated and memorable world of this
novel’ Meg Wolitzer author of The Wife ‘I love nothing more than reading about eccentric
families and the family in The Usual Desire to Kill is just that. Miranda and her sister work
to uncover the true story of their parents' marriage only to have their brilliant quirky
mother and father deflect them at every turn. Barnes has written a witty moving novel about
characters who even when they seem incapable of speaking honestly are worth listening to
nonetheless’ Ann Napolitano author of Hello Beautiful ‘An account of two ageing secretive
disputatious and thoroughly maddening parents – poignant funny and brilliantly told through
gritted teeth’ Posy Simmonds author of Cassandra Darke EARLY READERS' REVIEWS FOR THE
USUAL DESIRE TO KILL : ‘Family saga at its very best told with a tenderness that matches the
dark humour in equal parts. I think this a book a lot of people will identify with’ ‘Hugely
relatable. Endearingly flawed characters with real depth and an insightful understanding of the
ways in which family dynamics play out’ ‘A unique yet weirdly relatable family saga’ ‘Funny
honest and engaging’ ‘An observant and darkly witty debut’
