Books like Varying Degrees of Hopelessness

The second novel from the Scots-based American novelist is abundant in mordant wit and scalpel-sharp solipsism. Ellmann’s anti-heroine, a 32-year-old virgin, refuses to settle for second best in her suitors as her flatmate Pol ruts with the man of her dreams. VDOH is a postmodern parody of the Austen romance—a cynical re-imagining of Austen in a world stiffened by repression, loose morals, and the degeneration of cultural mores. Another lacerating romp for the terminal realist.