Shelf Life: An intimately beautiful novel on grief and identity, ‘Sally Rooney-esque’ New Statesman

'Shelf Life is whip-smart, slyly heartbreaking, and I felt the truth of it in my bones. Franchini dissects ideas of love, dating and identity in a way that feels both ruthless and humane. I loved it.' Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water Cure

An exquisite, heart-wrenching story of a woman discovering and rebuilding herself, beyond what she does for others.

Ruth is thirty years old. She works as a nurse in a care home and her fiancé has just broken up with her. The only thing she has left of him is their shopping list for the upcoming week.

And so she uses that list to tell her story. Starting with six eggs, and working through spaghetti and strawberries, and apples and tea bags, Ruth discovers that her identity has been crafted from the people she serves; her patients, her friends, and, most of all, her partner of ten years. Without him, she needs to find out – with conditioner and single cream and a lot of sugar – who she is when she stands alone.

An excellent author playing with form, structure, and unreliable narrators, discover Livia Franchini’s highly anticipated, new release High Tide.