Look To Your Wife by Paula Byrne

Look To Your Wife 

by Paula Byrne

Lisa Blaize – teacher, and would-be fashion writer, mother and second wife – feels out of place when her high-flying husband becomes the headmaster of a school in a country town. Isolated and far from her metropolitan upbringing, she turns to the one place where she learns she can be uninhibited: Twitter.

But ‘Twitter may be my undoing’, Lisa discovers as her one-time private life becomes all too public. Soon she is dealing with an online stalker and her husband’s reputation is put at risk, but will she be able to give up her addiction?

This book describes itself as a 'comedy of manners - on pleasure, privacy and penalties' and that really is a very fitting summary. As a fan of Twitter, I was definitely intrigued by the shout line 'Do you know your friends from your followers?' and this book will appeal to anyone who has dabbled with social media. 

The story starts with Edward, Lisa's husband, and charts his swift rise to the position of Headmaster at a very prestigious boarding school. Byrne establishes a great narrative voice, relating the ins and outs of the life of teachers and the running of a public school in a style which is incredibly readable. It has the feel of a column piece from a broadsheet newspaper, peppered with enough gossip and humour that the pages fly by and a strong picture of the main protagonists are firmly set in the reader's mind. Living within a boarding school seems to be quite a unique environment; the characters are confined and restricted by the rules of an established, perhaps antiquated, institution and a community which is quite insular. Through conversational detail and great character depiction, Byrne is able to show why Lisa turns to twitter in a bid to grab hold of her own identity and career. Very quickly, I was firmly invested in the characters, finding empathy with them and enjoying their relationship with each other and the world around them. 

Social media, the connections we make and the varying levels of information that people choose to reveal in the limited number of characters allowed in a tweet, is always going to be a source of discussion and fascination to everyone in today's society. Byrne has picked a great topic, two great characters and a story that is timely and very much relevant to modern society. Lisa, who then becomes the main focus of the story, believes herself to be able to communicate with her followers in a way that won't jeapordise her marriage or compromise her husband's job, but she is soon to find out that yes indeed, twitter may well be her undoing. 

I really enjoyed this light, entertaining, well paced and well written novel with short chapters. I liked the inclusion of tweets, twitter threads, Direct Messages, text messages and all things totally modern. All of these forms are cleverly used to tell a story that while humorous, also explores the naivity some people can have with social media and the reprecussions and consequences that can result from seemingly harmless banter.

'I have no secrets. I am confiding in the whole world.'

Is it an affair if you're tweeting someone quotes from Laurie Lee's books (yes, I did so very much enjoy these references!)? If you are hiding in plain view is it an affair - or is it as dangerous? Not only is this a book about contemporary manners and etiquette, this is also a book about thoroughly modern relationships and how people interact online, responding in a way  they may never in real life. It also explores some of the more malevolent and threatening behaviour that appears online and how quickly people can find themselves in a position they have no control over. 

I really liked Lisa. There is a really strong narrative voice which is consistent throughout the whole novel and because Byrne took the time to establish Edward's character at the beginning, the reader is fully immersed in the relationship between the two, wanting to see how things will turn out and able to understand both their positions, however contrasting or different. 

This is an entertaining novel, Byrne has a deft hand, an eye for detail and an insight about the behaviours of people online. If you are fans of Jane Lythell then this is definitely a book for you but it is also a book for anyone who enjoys a modern tale that both incorporates and perhaps more importantly, acknowledges, how our interactions and relationships are changing and what we need to be aware of as soon as we click on that 'join twitter' button. 

Don't delete this book from your twitter feed, download it and enjoy it. It's such a fast, fluent and funny read you'll certainly be pleased you took the time to read it. 

Look To Your Wife was published on 5th April 2018 by William Collins. 

My thanks to the publisher for an advance copy.