The Shelf - Helly Acton
About the book
This Radio 2 Book Club pick is a funny, feminist and all-too-relatable novel about our obsession with coupling up, settling down and the battle we all have with accepting ourselves, The Shelf introduces the freshest new voice in women's fiction.
Ever feel like you're losing a race you never signed up for?
Everyone in Amy's life seems to be getting married, having children and settling down (or so Instagram tells her), and she feels like she's falling behind.
So, when her long-term boyfriend surprises her with a dream holiday, she thinks he's going to finally pop the Big Question. But the dream turns into a nightmare when, instead, she finds herself on the set of a Big Brother-style reality television show, The Shelf.
Along with five other women, Amy is brutally dumped live on TV and must compete in a series of humiliating and obnoxious tasks in the hope of being crowned 'The Keeper'.
While inside the house, will Amy learn that there are worse things than being 'left on the shelf'?
About the author
Helly Acton is a copywriter from London with past lives in the Middle East, Africa and Australia. Born in Zimbabwe, Helly and her family emigrated to the East Sussex coast when she was fifteen years old. She studied Law at King's College London before following a more creative path into advertising. Helly currently lives in London with her husband, Chris, and their dog child Milo.
Discover more about the book and author
Watch this author interview with Our Bookshop owner Ben Moorhouse.
Learn more about the author on Helly’s website.
Read this Q & A with the author
Read this Review
Our Librarian’s Review
4 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by: Nikki
“I picked up this book because the blurb about the author intrigued me and I was then interested in the whole premise of the story. Right from the early chapters I found myself supporting the heroine and relating to her story. Amy's insecurities were relatable and were disclosed with humour and self-depreciation. It's contemporary in its outlook and addresses modern female insecurities about love, marriage and children. Having Amy do this on a reality TV show adds a unique twist to these age old questions.
I don’t think the author intended for readers to have any sympathy for the ‘ex’ and I certainly didn’t. I do think it would have been interesting to have given him a few redeeming features rather than portray him quite so lacking in any emotional integrity at all. But maybe the point was that he wasn’t key to the book at all, but is just a vehicle for getting Amy to ‘go through the door’ and embrace her future. “