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Really Good, Actually

A Novel

by Monica Heisey

Narrator Julia Whelan

This audiobook uses AI narration.

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Length 10 hours 13 minutes

Language English

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Bookseller recommendation

“There are books about it, songs about it, endless poetry written all about the tragic, heart-wrenching, vulnerable experience of losing love. It's difficult, however, to capture the full physical and mental ramifications of such events. Monica Heisey has shown that, though it is difficult, it is not impossible. In an honest, realistic view, Heisey writes this story of Maggie who is embarking on not just a lost love or a break up, but a divorce after a 9 year relationship. I loved how relatable Maggie is, whether you have experienced this or not. I especially love the feeling I got as I read that there is support in surprising places, and even though it may seem like you'll feel this sad and broken forever, things WILL get better. The audiobook experience is exceptionally engrossing with a narration from Julia Whelan. I strongly recommend. ”
— Kalli • Rediscovered Books

Bookseller recommendation

“Very millenial-core in a way i find extremely comforting. the dialogue, group-chats, and inner monologue all felt very real and very Womanhood (TM). This is the perfect book to recommend anyone, and I love the audiobook narrator and that definitely added to the experience of the book.”
— Nyawira • Page 158 Books

Bookseller recommendation

“Heartbreaking, hilarious, hopeful- this is a story that anyone in their late twenties/early thirties can relate to even if they aren't going through a divorce. Maggie is messy and unlikable for most of the book, but Heisey's writing made me root for her the entire time- even though I knew it was going to be a painful journey, I kept coming back for more. I related to Maggie in more ways than I thought I would- from the disastrous dating app trysts, wondering if the group chat has been silent for a little too long, and trying to blame personal problems on societal issues, at the core of this novel is a woman starting over after already thinking she had everything figured out- but in a brutally honest, embarrassingly funny way. I really enjoyed listening to this book- I'm quickly becoming a Julia Whelan stan!!”
— Maggie • East City Bookshop

Summary
About the author
About the narrator

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

“Every sentence of Monica Heisey’s writing is a treat. No one makes me laugh like she does.” —Dolly Alderton, New York Times bestselling author of Everything I Know About Love

Recommended by Los Angeles Times • Washington Post • GQ • Elle • Good Morning America • People • Guardian • The Times • E! News Online • The Globe and Mail • Toronto Star • The Week • New York Post • Shondaland • and many more!

A hilarious and painfully relatable debut novel about one woman’s messy search for joy and meaning in the wake of an unexpected breakup, from comedian, essayist, and award-winning screenwriter Monica Heisey

Maggie is fine. She’s doing really good, actually. Sure, she’s broke, her graduate thesis on something obscure is going nowhere, and her marriage only lasted 608 days, but at the ripe old age of twenty-nine, Maggie is determined to embrace her new life as a Surprisingly Young Divorcée™.

Now she has time to take up nine hobbies, eat hamburgers at 4 am, and “get back out there” sex-wise. With the support of her tough-loving academic advisor, Merris; her newly divorced friend, Amy; and her group chat (naturally), Maggie barrels through her first year of single life, intermittently dating, occasionally waking up on the floor and asking herself tough questions along the way.

Laugh-out-loud funny and filled with sharp observations, Really Good, Actually is a tender and bittersweet comedy that lays bare the uncertainties of modern love, friendship, and our search for that thing we like to call “happiness”. This is a remarkable debut from an unforgettable new voice in fiction.

“A prime example of how a storyteller's voice can pull you right in and keep you clinging to every sentence. . . . This is a book I will give to my closest girlfriends and say, ‘You have to read this.’” — Zibby Owens, GoodMorningAmerica.com

“Tremendously funny and thoughtful.” –GQ

Fiction

Monica Heisey is a comedian and writer from Toronto. She has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Vogue, Elle, The Guardian, Glamour, New York magazine, VICE, and more. She won four Canadian Screen Awards for her work on Baroness von Sketch Show, and has written on shows like Schitt’s Creek, and Workin’ Moms, among others. She currently lives in London, UK. This is her first novel.

Julia Whelan is a screenwriter, lifelong actor, and award-winning audiobook narrator. She graduated with a degree in English and creative writing from Middlebury College and Oxford University. While she was in England, her flirtation with tea blossomed into a full-blown love affair, culminating in her eventual certification as a tea master.