Would you let the answers to a crossword puzzle dictate your life decisions for a week? Considering that the last crossword I finished included the answers ‘demon’ and ‘run laps’, I personally am going to pass on that particular suggestion. But doesn’t it just make for the most enticing premise to a novel you’ve ever heard?
Kimberley Allsopp (Photo by Peter Rowe).
Such is the premise taken by Kimberley Allsopp’s debut novel, Love and Other Puzzles, in which we meet Rory Byrne, a twenty-something aspiring journalist with a rigid (and suffocating) daily routine. Determined to be noticed at work, have a more fulfilling social life and reinvigorate her flailing relationship with her boyfriend Lucas, Rory decides on a whim to let the answers to the New York Times crossword rule her decisions for a week … which goes about as well as you could expect. Suffice to say that the shenanigans which follow involve escaping awkward situations via windows, bad cartoons, great movies, one terribly charming waiter and, somehow, kimchi.
Love and Other Puzzles is a novel that takes great joy in running through the rich playground of its genre, and you practically can’t get through a chapter without tripping over a well-placed romcom reference. From quips about When Harry Met Sally to Sabrina, Allsopp has proved herself an eager student of the masters such as Ephron, Wilder and Fielding. It’s the sort of approach that, if done poorly, could make for an irritating reading experience, but it’s totally charming here. Reading it, you’ll find yourself delighting in the absolute insanity and impossibility of it all. (Do I ever see myself climbing out of a window to avoid my boyfriend’s mother? Probably not, but it’s still hilarious to read along as Rory does it.) Sandwiched between these moments of weirdness and toe-curling cringe, however, are moments of real insight and growth for Rory, as she figures out just what kind of life she wants for herself.
A lovely and witty first novel about finding the gorgeous sweet spot between comfort and spontaneity, Love and Other Puzzles is perfect for fans of Marian Keyes, Minnie Darko, Dolly Alderton and Meg Mason.
—Love and Other Puzzles by Kimberley Allsopp (HarperCollins Australia) is out now. Limited signed copies are available while stocks last.
Love and Other Puzzles
Limited Signed Copies Available!
Rory's life is perfectly predictable, ordered and on track – just the way she likes it. She walks her 12,000 steps a day, writes her to-do list and each night she prepares her breakfast chia pods and lays out her clothes for the next day. She's doing everything right. So why does everything feel so wrong?
Deep down, she knows her life and career – not to mention her relationship – are going nowhere, and so Rory, in a moment of desperation, takes an uncharacteristic step: letting the clues of The New York Times crossword puzzle dictate all her decisions for a week...
About the Contributor
Olivia Fricot
Olivia Fricot (she/her) is Booktopia's Senior Content Producer and editor of the Booktopian blog. She has too many plants and not enough bookshelves, and you can usually find her reading, baking, or talking to said plants. She is pro-Oxford comma.
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Comments
February 16, 2022 at 4:40 pm
“You’ll find yourself delighting in the absolute insanity and impossibility of it all” Yes! I loved this one too Olivia. A wisely witty debut novel that’s brought nostalgic fun and feelings back to the modern rom-com.