A middle-class family’s anxiously-acquired status is threatened when the eldest son and his girlfriend (both in their early twenties) appear on a secretly-filmed porn clip that is posted online. The couple try their best to put the whole thing behind them; their parents however find this impossible. The resulting intergenerational battle becomes a news sensation that brings buried tensions to the surface and tests familial bonds.
Teen Couple is a universally-relatable story full of bittersweet comedy about the odd ways in which different people – and different generations – deal with shame, in a country where shame dictates nearly everything: from what one studies at university to who one ends up marrying. Regarding humour, note that this novel was shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Comic Novel Award 2023.
UK Publisher: Serpent's Tail