The Desmond Elliott Prize is an annual award for a first novel written
in English and published in the UK. Worth £10,000 to the winner, the
prize is named after the literary agent and publisher, Desmond Elliott.
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What begins as a light-hearted look at Alizia’s world, almost slightly mocking in tone, becomes a much deeper novel that reels you in and makes fall for her charm.
'Design - For Life!' ...'And Live - For Design!' (Magic Mottoes 2 & 3). Can Interior Design make you a better person? Alizia Tame believes it can. In this book she will take you on a journey through the most private Interior of all: her thoughts and feelings. Everyone has heard of her creations - the Bridge Hallway, the Funnel Office, the Dawson House with its sofas that run on rails: now you can experience the life that lies behind them. Meet her husband Jem - the postmodern potter - who is in many ways her inspiration. Share the thrills and anxieties of juggling family and career. Discover the truth about her partnership with Fisher Paul and Simon Sanders at IntArchitec, the world's most innovative Design practice. Remember that when your world flips upside-down it is sometimes the most surprising people who turn out to be your friends For while Alizia has a Design for everything from relationships to work to motherhood, the people who matter most to her refuse to fit. As the gloss she has put on her life begins to crack she realises there may not, after all, be a Magic Motto for everything. And where can she find happiness then? Designs for a Happy Home is the sparkling story of a sometimes impossible, often infuriating but ultimately loveable heroine whose pilgrim's progress through modern marriage is at once funny, poignant and unforgettable.
'A novel of floor plans and flawed plans' Times Literary Supplement
'A genuinely original piece of writing' Paul Torday, author of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
'A smart, sparkling read, peeling back the layers of Alizia Tame's seemingly perfect existence to reveal the human truth beneath the surface' Elle
'A sad and gentle story of a family's breakdown so gripping is the immediacy of the format ... An engrossing, clever and funny novel' Literary Review
Author
About Matthew Reynolds
Matthew Reynolds is known as a critic and scholar, author of The Realms of Verse and of many essays in the LRB and TLS, editor of Dante in English and of Manzoni’s The Betrothed. He spent time in London, Cambridge, Pisa and Paris before settling in Oxford where he lectures at the University and is a Fellow of St Anne’s College. He lives with his unruly family in a thoroughly imperfect interior.
