She lays her head gently on the shoulder of her serious fiancee and quietly awaits marriage. But she didn't count on an inner rebellion that would rock her stable routine, and her digestion. Marriage a la mode, Marian discovers, is something she literally can't stomach...

'"Clara," she said, "do you think I'm normal?"
"I'd say you're almost abnormally normal, if you know what I mean."'

Marian is determinedly ordinary, waiting to get married. She likes her work, her broody flatmate and her sober fiancé Peter. All goes well at first, but Marian has reckoned without an inner self that wants something more, that calmly sabotages her careful plans, her stable routine - and her digestion. Marriage à la mode, Marian discovers, is something she literally can't stomach . . .

'Written with a brilliant angry energy' Observer

'A witty, elegant, generous and patient writer' Punch

'Reflections on marriage, guilt and the relationship between the sexes - classic Atwood territory' Guardian

By the author of The Handmaid's Tale, The Testaments and Alias Grace

'Clara', she said, 'do you think I'm normal?'
'I'd say you're almost abnormally normal, if you know what I mean.'

Marian is determinedly ordinary, waiting to get married. She likes her work, her broody flatmate and her sober fiancé Peter. All goes well at first, but Marian has reckoned without an inner self that wants something more, that calmly sabotages her careful plans, her stable routine - and her digestion. Marriage à la mode, Marian discovers, is something she literally can't stomach . . .

Margaret Atwood's first novel is both a scathingly funny satire of consumerism and a heady exploration of emotional cannibalism.

'Atwood has the magic of turning the particular and the parochial into the universal' The Times

'Written with a brilliant angry energy' Observer

'Margaret Atwood not only has a sense of humour, she has wit and style in abundance . . . a joy to read' Good Housekeeping

'A witty, elegant, generous and patient writer' Punch