Roffey

Roffey is shortlisted for her second novel about an English couple settling in Trinidad.

The Guardian World News Mark Brown 2010

Roffey is shortlisted for her second novel about an English couple settling in Trinidad.

The Guardian World News Mark Brown 2010

And maybe it was partly because I'd genuinely begun to like and feel for Roffey – both as narrator and, yes, as sexual being – that I felt let down.

With the Kisses of His Mouth by Monique Roffey – review 2011

Moreover, Roffey's somehow irrepressible willingness to share begins to seem generous, infectious even.

With the Kisses of His Mouth by Monique Roffey – review 2011

In her late 30s, Roffey fell in love with a fellow novelist – he remains anonymous, referred to throughout as My Ex – and together they ran the Arvon writing centre in Devon.

With the Kisses of His Mouth by Monique Roffey – review 2011

Like Parks, Monique Roffey is an acclaimed fiction writer – her The White Woman on the Green Bicycle was shortlisted for last year's Orange Prize.

With the Kisses of His Mouth by Monique Roffey – review 2011

Though it will certainly be sold that way, Roffey's book is about far more – it's a candid exploration of the vulnerability of middle-age, as well as a fairly brutal examination of the human heart and its endless capacity to be broken.

With the Kisses of His Mouth by Monique Roffey – review 2011

Nevertheless, the new, sexually energetic and curious Roffey and to be fair, she seems fully aware of the startling turnaround meets 24 strangers online and, within a space of about 18 months, has sex with six of them – seven, if you count the telephone sex episode.

With the Kisses of His Mouth by Monique Roffey – review 2011

Perhaps most tellingly, Roffey admits that, despite all the workshops and zestful attempts at sexual self-improvement, she actually likes her "flawed and crooked self" and in some ways makes a writerly choice to remain "blind" because "I wanted to turn the darkness in me into prose".

With the Kisses of His Mouth by Monique Roffey – review 2011

After several cosy years, however, Roffey receives a bombshell in the post: a woman writes to say she's been having an affair with this not-yet-Ex, and here are the emails to prove it.

With the Kisses of His Mouth by Monique Roffey – review 2011