When We Were Bad

Description

When We Were Bad is a spellbinding, witty and poignant portrayal of a family in crisi, in love, and in denial.

‘As intelligent as it is funny. A beautifully observed literary comedy as well as a painfully accurate description of one big old family mess. A joy’ Observer

In North London, Claudia Rubin is in her heyday. Wife, mother, rabbi and sometimes moral voice of the nation everyone wants to be with her at her son Leo’s glorious wedding. That is, until Leo jilts his bride, and the gleaming bubble surrounding the Rubins threatens to burst.

Frances Claudia’s calm, mature, married daughter tries to hold the nucleus of the family together, but the stress forces her to re-examine her own life, leading her to make a decision as shocking as Leo’s choice to bolt.

And Claudia’s husband, Norman, has an uncharacteristic secret. And, whether he likes it or not, he is powerless to stop it coming out . . .

‘A comedy with the warmest of hearts and the most deliciously subversive of agendas’ – Marie Claire

‘Fast-paced and engaging. Brilliant, touching and true’ – Naomi Alderman, bestselling author of The Power

Author Information

Charlotte Mendelsons novels include Daughters of Jerusalem, When We Were Bad, Almost English, and The Exhibitionist. She has won both the Somerset Maugham Award and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, has been longlisted for the Man Booker, and has been longlisted and shortlisted for the Womens Prize for Fiction. She is also the author of one work of non-fiction, Rhapsody in Green, and is the gardening correspondent for The New Yorker. She lives in London.