She lays her head gently on the shoulder of her serious fiancee and quietly awaits marriage. But she didn't count on an inner rebellion that would rock her stable routine, and her digestion. Marriage a la mode, Marian discovers, is something she literally can't stomach...

'"Clara," she said, "do you think I'm normal?"
"I'd say you're almost abnormally normal, if you know what I mean."'

Marian is determinedly ordinary, waiting to get married. She likes her work, her broody flatmate and her sober fiancé Peter. All goes well at first, but Marian has reckoned without an inner self that wants something more, that calmly sabotages her careful plans, her stable routine - and her digestion. Marriage à la mode, Marian discovers, is something she literally can't stomach . . .

'Written with a brilliant angry energy' Observer

'A witty, elegant, generous and patient writer' Punch

'Reflections on marriage, guilt and the relationship between the sexes - classic Atwood territory' Guardian