The Book of Men is a novel about a novel and the novel ways that real life deals heavy blows, sometimes with a ferocity that takes your breath away. This is a book about sex, revenge, men, women, war and ego. Part memoir - The Book of Men follows five years in the life of Edith Scott, a forty-something author navigating divorced parenting, online dating and open relationships. Part fantasy - As the men in her life teach her hard lessons about rejection and the disposable nature of modern relationships, Edith moves on but writes them into the plot of her latest novel and kills them off with delight. Part killing spree - However, Edith will never know that real life is in fact dealing with those men in a parallel reality too brutal for words. The story begins as a contemporary family drama but soon reads like a modern woman’s dating manual before the body count begins to mount. Edith Scott is an author writing a book about men but there are more parallels, coincidences and interconnections in her life than she will ever know. This funny, dark, and often terrifying book is set in Paris, Sydney, London, Berlin and Kinshasa in the Congo. It is fascinating, fast-paced and colourful. ‘I felt like I’d been through the wringer by the end of each chapter!’ said one anonymous beta reader from Adelaide. ‘I could not guess what would happen next. Bloom writes such good characters and some are so dreadful it feels kinda fabulous when they’re wiped out. Am I bad for finding that so satisfying?’
