Self-Worth

Fresh from a master's in philosophy, Anna is stunned when a careers counsellor tells her she has "no special skills". Desperate for work and financial independence, she takes a thankless job on a TV talk show. The wage is minimal, but at least she has her boyfriend Lulu, the love of her life, to come home to.

Then Lulu starts throwing up cash — thousands of euros within days — hurling the twenty-something couple, who had spent their lives proudly rejecting consumer society, into unforeseen wealth. Anna loves every minute of it: the designer bag, the holiday in Tahiti, the wild parties in their fancy new apartment. But as she grows accustomed to luxury, Lulu's health suffers, and she is left wondering what would be worse — losing him, or losing the money.

Emma Tholozan's debut is a raw, brutally funny portrait of a generation without ideals, translated from the French by Emma Ramadan.