Opt Out
Published on 14. August 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
384 pages
978-1-5266-0807-9 (ISBN)
Description
Everything will be fine. That is what Mary and John promise when they tell their two children that they are getting a divorce. But the separation becomes wildly different from what they had both imagined.
John is quickly scooped up by a new woman while Mary is forced to realise that an adult woman without a partner is not an uncomplicated matter in the eyes of society. While John moves on with both the children's trust and his personal finances intact, Mary - who has spent her life living for the approval of others - must reevaluate herself, her choices and her life.
Opt Out is a searing reckoning with the limitations of marriage and gender roles, and an examination of the image of the good mother. Smart, intimate and emotionally astute, it is a story about family and love - for better or for worse - and the difficulties of breaking away from the constraints of one life in pursuit of another.
Praise for Carolina Setterwall and Let's Hope for the Best
'I've read it twice now ... Utterly compulsive' Marian Keyes
'I think the world should read it' Lisa Taddeo
'Brutally candid ... The most compelling book I've read in years' The Times
'It's impossible not to draw comparisons with Karl Ove Knausgaard' Evening Standard
'Every spare, controlled sentence has the ring of truth ... Gripping' Daily Mail
John is quickly scooped up by a new woman while Mary is forced to realise that an adult woman without a partner is not an uncomplicated matter in the eyes of society. While John moves on with both the children's trust and his personal finances intact, Mary - who has spent her life living for the approval of others - must reevaluate herself, her choices and her life.
Opt Out is a searing reckoning with the limitations of marriage and gender roles, and an examination of the image of the good mother. Smart, intimate and emotionally astute, it is a story about family and love - for better or for worse - and the difficulties of breaking away from the constraints of one life in pursuit of another.
Praise for Carolina Setterwall and Let's Hope for the Best
'I've read it twice now ... Utterly compulsive' Marian Keyes
'I think the world should read it' Lisa Taddeo
'Brutally candid ... The most compelling book I've read in years' The Times
'It's impossible not to draw comparisons with Karl Ove Knausgaard' Evening Standard
'Every spare, controlled sentence has the ring of truth ... Gripping' Daily Mail
Reviews / Votes
Carolina Setterwall doesn't shy away from darkness. Opt Out is a daring book, brave not least because it has the courage to point out the consequences of a divorce for the woman * Expressen * [In] Opt Out, the gaze is as relentlessly direct, heart-rending, and searching as in the debut ... As an observant guide through the human psyche and relationships, Setterwall is astonishing * Vaesterbottenskuriren *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 135 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-5266-0807-9 (9781526608079)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Carolina Setterwall was born in Sala, Sweden, and is the author of Let's Hope for the Best. After studying Media and Communication in Uppsala, Stockholm, and London she has worked within the music and publishing industries as an editor and writer. Setterwall lives in Stockholm with her son.