A desperate young publicist tries to save her career by turning a grungy retreat centre and its charismatic leader into the hot new self-care brand in this darkly comedic, razor-sharp debut novel, and send-up of the wellness industry.
For fans of Halle Butler’s THE NEW ME, Abigail Bergstrom’s WHAT A SHAME and Liane Moriaty’s NINE PERFECT STRANGERS
Jane Dorner has two modes:
PR Jane is twenty-five, breezy, clever in a non-threatening way and eager to sell you a feminist vibrator.
Actual Jane is twenty-nine, drifting through mediocre workdays and lackluster dates while paralysed by her crushing mountain of overdue bills.
Enter the impossibly gorgeous Cass, whom Jane discovers scrolling through Instagram – the guru of a ‘wellness retreat’ based out of a ramshackle country house that may or may not be giving off cult vibes. Suddenly Jane realises she might have found the one ladder she can climb.
But inner peace and glowing skin will always come at a price…
‘Jane Austen on steroids. It’s that sharp, that wicked, that laceratingly true’
Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours
‘Intoxicating . . . A wellness tonic for people who like to make fun of the wellness industry’
Leigh Stein, author of Self Care
(P) Headline Publishing Group Ltd 2023
For fans of Halle Butler’s THE NEW ME, Abigail Bergstrom’s WHAT A SHAME and Liane Moriaty’s NINE PERFECT STRANGERS
Jane Dorner has two modes:
PR Jane is twenty-five, breezy, clever in a non-threatening way and eager to sell you a feminist vibrator.
Actual Jane is twenty-nine, drifting through mediocre workdays and lackluster dates while paralysed by her crushing mountain of overdue bills.
Enter the impossibly gorgeous Cass, whom Jane discovers scrolling through Instagram – the guru of a ‘wellness retreat’ based out of a ramshackle country house that may or may not be giving off cult vibes. Suddenly Jane realises she might have found the one ladder she can climb.
But inner peace and glowing skin will always come at a price…
‘Jane Austen on steroids. It’s that sharp, that wicked, that laceratingly true’
Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours
‘Intoxicating . . . A wellness tonic for people who like to make fun of the wellness industry’
Leigh Stein, author of Self Care
(P) Headline Publishing Group Ltd 2023
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Reviews
Funny and satirical, Gaynor totally nails self-care as a personality type
Hilarious and razor sharp about the aspects of the wellness industry that aren't all that well, this satire could kill "Eat, Pray, Love" on sight
Jessie Gaynor's wildly funny, laser-eyed novel is Jane Austen on steroids. It's that sharp, that wicked, that laceratingly true
The Glow is the first truly dead-on satire of wellness culture, understanding it as not just a consumer trend, but a way of thinking and speaking. With terrifying wit, Jessie Gaynor shreds the overrated virtues of prosperity and healthy moisture barriers, and extols the underrated virtues of irony and sanity
Deliciously tart, fizzy, and absolutely intoxicating, The Glow is like a slim can of hard kombucha: a wellness tonic for people who like to make fun of the wellness industry
Gaynor's sharpened blades are out for the wellness industry and its cult-like devotion to personal brands, but The Glow is more than just incisive observation and pitch-perfect satire. There's a deep well of human ambition and desire at the root of this story, not to mention a sharp plot that bounds ahead with the assurance of the best thrillers. Gaynor builds layer on layer of mystery out of everyday human yearning, creating a whole that's deeply satisfying and always surprising
Jessie Gaynor's writing is wickedly funny and sly in its observations, pairing human truths with a setting that can only belong to our present moment. The Glow manages to be both savvy in its sendup of the social-media-influencing world and empathic in its portrayal of the millions who flock to it. I tore through the book in a state of pure delight, pining to return to it whenever trivialities like 'work' or 'sleep' so rudely interrupted
Sparkling like dewy skin and laugh-out-loud funny, The Glow announces Jessie Gaynor as a compelling new novelist
A welcome dose of satire for anyone who's been duped by yoni eggs, vagina scented candles or TikTok tarot readers
Razor-sharp satire
Hilariously deadpan
Wryly funny . . . Jessie Gaynor's fabulous debut novel, The Glow, is a deft sendup of wellness culture that delves a few levels deeper
Jessie Gaynor's plot is breezy and hilarious, but where she really shines is the character of Jane herself, a self-centered and image-obsessed nightmare whose observations about NYC Millennial culture made me LOL more than once. You'll never look at wellness PR pitches the same way again once you've heard Jane's commentary on the entire endeavour