A short while later, Eileen is upset to find out that Aidan has started dating someone new, and she ends up going to Simon's place and initiating sex with him.

One night, she calls up Simon and has phone sex with him. In Dublin, Eileen repeatedly looks up her ex, Aidan Lavin, online to see what he's up to on social media. She also impulsively invites Felix onĪ work trip to Rome, offering to pay for everything since he can't afford to go otherwise. She ends up telling Felix about how she had a nervous breakdown a while ago which landed her in the hospital for a short time. In the letters, you can see that they care about each other a lot, but that there is some unspoken tension between them as well.)Īlice and Felix later run into each other in town and Felix invites her to a party at his place so she can meet some new people. (Throughout the book, Alice and Eileen write letters back and forth updating each other on their personal lives and detailing their thoughts on various topics. In present day, Simon tells her he's bringing a woman he's been seeing ( Caroline) to Lola's upcoming wedding, but he offers to go alone for Eileen's sake if she wants. Later, when she's 21, she ends up sleeping with Simon after he has a bad breakup, but nothing comes of it from there. Simon (who is 5 years older than her) was the first person to really befriend her when she was a teenager. Eileen was a social outcast in primary and secondary school, and her older sister Lola was mean to her. Eileen is an editorial assistant at a literary magazine. Meanwhile, in Dublin, Eileen Lydon (Alice's best friend), 29, meets up with a family friend, Simon Costigan, for coffee. The date is awkward and the two don't quite hit it off. Alice is a novelist who is new in town and who has published a successful book, and Felix is a warehouse worker. The book opens in a village a few hours away from Dublin with Alice Kelleher meeting a man from Tinder, Felix Brady, at a bar. The couples end up together and the women forge a stronger friendship. In the end, both couples (and the women) are able to be more vulnerable with one another. Alice and Eileen also have tension in their friendship, since each feels they care more than the other does. Simon, too, doesn't really pursue Eileen (even though he has always loved her), saying that she pushes people away. Felix initially resists a relationship with Alice, saying that she likes him behaving poorly towards her so that she can be morally superior. She starts a casual relationship with Simon, a handsome childhood friend. Meanwhile, Eileen is an editorial assistant at a literary magazine in Dublin. She starts seeing Felix, a warehouse worker she met off Tinder. Alice is a successful novelist who has recently had a nervous breakdown. The one-paragraph version: Alice and Eileen are best friends from college, both 29 or 30-ish.

Beautiful world where you are