Joey Mullen

Joey Mullen is the main character of the novel. Three months prior to the narrative present, Joey moves back to her hometown in Bristol after spending several years living and working at a resort in Ibiza. While here, she meets, develops feelings for, and marries Alfie Butter. Because she has lacked direction and purpose for some time, Joey convinces herself “that getting married and moving back to Bristol” will be “the start of the big new grown-up” version of herself (69). However, upon relocating, Joey quickly finds her plans of settling down and growing up going awry. She is living with her older brother Jack and his tight-laced wife Rebecca in their Melville Heights home. She is working at “a notoriously rough soft-play center in the city called Whackadoo” (19). She is trying to avoid revealing her fears of motherhood to her husband. Meanwhile, she is developing nearly obsessive...