Sympathetic insight into the life of a modern American woman

Jessica Winter has created a hugely sympathetic narrator

Jessica Winter: her writing is colourful and engaging

Fiction; Break in Case of Emergency; By Jessica Winter; Borough Press, €17.25

There are small fires kindling in all aspects of Jen’s life. Work woes, fertility problems, marital strife and rifts with best friends are just some of the issues that have her reaching for that tiny hammer in Jessica Winter’s aptly titled debut, Break in Case of Emergency.

Living in Brooklyn with her husband Jim, Jen is an unemployed artist in her ...