Original Bliss (Vintage Contemporaries) - Softcover

"A writer rich in the humanity and warmth that seems at a premium in these bleak times."
--Salman Rushdie

"Kennedy has now proved that she is one of the few young writers to have found a distinctive voice, one that we could recognize even from a couple of sentences; and that in itself is already a considerable achievement."
--Jonathan Coe

"The young Scottish writer A. L. Kennedy has said she admires Raymond Carver for his sense of limitation, for his dealing with small precise human situations for themselves. Her own work has these virtues."
--A. S. Byatt

"Mesmerizes with its musicality and startles with the frankness of its sexual detail . . . The narrative is relentless . . . Manages to address its characters' deep pathos brazenly, and without apology."
--Publishers Weekly

"Beautiful, rare, and touching: Kennedy handles extremely volatile material with the greatest care . . . A small gem."
--Kirkus Reviews

Trapped in a terrifying, abusive marriage, an emotionally numb Helen Brindle spends her life performing boring domestic chores in front of the TV, until she is drawn into the orbit of self-help guru Edward G. Gluck, who hides his own sadomasochistic obsession. Reprint. 15,000 first printing.