Jillian Frisk and Weston Babansky have been friends since university. They were lovers once but their relationship has evolved into one of intimate friendship. They play tennis together regularly, discuss each other’s love lives or lack thereof, and even have cutesy pet names for each other. Their bond is seen as a threat by Weston’s new girlfriend, Paige. She finds Jillian’s vivid personality problematic and takes an instant dislike to her. When Weston proposes to Paige, she makes it clear that if they are to marry, Jillian has to go. Shriver’s new novella attacks, with her usual merciless clarity, the idea that straight men and women can ever be friends. It’s a slender book but a sharp one, eloquent about the various ways that people try to possess one another. Shriver, typically, does not shrink from depicting the pettiness and ugliness of the fallout following Paige’s ultimatum.
• The Standing Chandelier by Lionel Shriver is published by HarperCollins (£9.99). To order a copy for £8.49 go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99
