Whenever You’re Ready
An unexpected death finds Lizzie, Alice and Margot at various crossroads in their lives, caught between looking back and moving on.
Lizzie is reeling from a decades-old secret that changes everything she thought she knew about her friends, her family and her marriage. Alice has always been the good-time girl, as charismatic presenting the weather on television as she is working as a life model. But decades of piecemeal work have left her with a safety net that is rapidly unravelling. Meanwhile, Lizzie's perfectionist daughter Margot is realising that, despite having built herself a faultlessly curated life, she hasn't put her troubled past behind her as neatly as she thought she had.
Whenever You're Ready is a wise, wry, and wistful novel about grief, family, female friendship, ageing and ageism, that will appeal to fans of The Weekend by Charlotte Wood who have been looking for a similar ensemble drama with authentic, richly drawn characters.
Reviews for Whenever You’re Ready
“Bolton is a natural-born storyteller and her debut novel is a gift to us all.”
“Social commentary shot through with wicked humour. I loved it.”
“Tender, warm-hearted and wise.”
“Engaging, moving and full of heart.”
“The grief in Bolton’s novel is weighty and pervasive, but her tone is light and matter-of-fact; it’s as if Sally Hepworth wrote Jennifer Down’s Bodies of Light.”
“congrats on your excellent book! bring on the TV adaptation!!”
“Trish Bolton renders visible the complex lives of older women who are so often invisible in our culture. A page-turner of a novel. ”
“Bolton draws strong but nuanced characters with considerable perceptiveness, and her crisp prose style fuses wit and wisdom with a rare lightness of touch.”
“Natural storyteller Bolton’s debut novel is a staggeringly ambitious and thought-provoking dive into the lives of three women who must face up to change in the wake of sudden loss.”
“Whenever You’re Ready is a fine debut, one suffused with heart, compassion and forgiveness for the sins of friends.”
“Each of the women in this novel feels like she could be a friend.”
“Trish Bolton has created a beautiful story in her debut novel Whenever You’re Ready, a tale that brims with heart, warmth, wit, tenderness, compassion and the knowing wisdom that comes with each passing year.”
“Whenever You’re Ready is a much-needed documenting of the very real difficulties experienced by older women. It never diminishes the characters by treating them as stereotypes…”
“It is a superb book. Classy. Clever. Real. Bravo!”
“Trish is a wonderful storyteller. The characters are wonderful commentaries on the societal issues facing women. Very clever, could not put it down.”
Whenever You’re Ready in the media
Arts Hub: Move over Millennials, it’s time for older women to shine
The Sunday Age: When I let my hair go grey, I didn’t expect to become invisible
The Conversation: I hope publishers will be brave, older women are often erased in fiction
The Guardian: You’re covered in wrinkles. You’re no longer interesting. The books making older women visible