Avery Carpenter, author of "Social Engagement"

In today’s episode, I speak to the writer Avery Carpenter Forrey, who wrote the fun & enjoyable debut novel “Social Engagement”. It’s a young woman’s journey to getting married that is full of obstacles & revelations. At first glance, this may seem like standard chick-lit fare but I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a darker undertone to this work that gave it an interesting shape. Aside from struggling with the aftermath of a past relationship as well as family trauma, the young woman at the heart of this novel deals with an eating disorder, and there’s a whole angle of body symbolism that gives it an unusual flavour. It is Edith Wharton in the age of TikTok, with David Cronenberg as a cameo guest star. Its' tribe of privileged Upper East Siders are well-defined and certainly more palatable than the brats of Bret Easton Ellis, and it’s no spoiler to reveal that the wedding at the heart of this novel is a total car crash – and who doesn’t love a good car crash at a wedding – given that the novel opens at the end. 

In this episode, Avery & I talk about her work and how it came to be, and we meander down her literary path to uncover her literary influences in her journey to becoming a writer. 

Books mentioned in the episode:

• The book that changed her mind: Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)
• The genre that she is drawn to: Carmen Maria Machado, author of the short story collection “Her Body & Other Parties” (2017) and her memoir “In The Dream House” (2019)
• Favourite book I’ve never heard of: “Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance” by Alison Espach
• Favourite book of the last 12 months: “The Rachel Incident”, by Caroline O’Donoghue
• The book that she found over-rated: “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus
• The book she’s embarrassed not to have read: “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy 

• The book she would take to a desert island: “You Think It, I’ll Say It”, a short story collection by Curtis Sittenfeld . This is the book she was reading as she gave birth so it’s got to be entertaining. She also recommends the book “Prep” and “American Wife”, a fictionalized portrait of Laura Bush, and “Rodham” an alternative history where Hilary Clinton never meets Bill Clinton.

Instagram: @averycarpenterforrey

Buy her book: https://amzn.eu/d/6lBZlkh

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