I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Lionel Shriver consistently writes the most interesting, complex female characters. They’re rarely ‘nice’, accommodating or admirable women. It’s certainly evident in Double Fault, where we meet Wilhemena (Willy) Novinsky, an ambitious, self-obsessed tennis player, on the brink of stardom.

Willy is incredibly determined and her focus on tennis does not waver, even when she meets Eric Oberdorf, a guy she beats convincingly in a casual tennis match. She soon discovers that Eric didn’t pick up a racquet until the age of 18 but with the financial support and blessing of his family (something Willy does not have), puts on hold using his mathematics degree from Princeton to give the tennis circuit a whirl. Unlike Willy, Eric does not ‘live and breathe’ tennis, an attitude which both horrifies and attracts Willy, who defines herself by her ranking.

“…their tournaments had been fortuitously staggered, and in the rash prodigality of headlong romance they had flown to watch each other play. Sweet but irresponsible, their mutual admiration society would not last.” Continue reading →