And it’s not just the objects that are overwhelming. Of course, if she instead asks Elaine to move in and then charges as the first month’s rent the exact amount Frances owes her dealer? Voila! Ticking-clock problem (full settlement of all debts in one week or else) solved!Įlaine invades Frances’ small apartment with huge amounts of stuff. Enough being way too much, Frances has been thinking of dumping Elaine. (Like, twice.) And Elaine adores Frances, which she expresses with intrusive, near-constant outbursts of lust. Elaine frequently calls her beloved “Funny Frances,” a moniker which reads as grating when repeated too often. Into this tense mix comes Frances’ wealthy new girlfriend, Elaine, quite possibly one of the most annoying figures in literature, and that includes Uriah Heep.

She is quite often quite drunk, and she owes thousands (in pounds sterling, as the setting for her travails is London) to a drug dealer given to turning over those in his debt to a collector who does horrifying things with a straightening iron as punishment for falling behind on payments. It would be hard to imagine Frances making worse choices. In her debut novel, Sedating Elaine, Dawn Winter accomplishes a remarkable feat: She makes an infuriatingly foolish protagonist with specific problems - and specific ideas about how to solve them - into a character who inspires compassion and gives voice to poignant truths.

Sedating Elaine by Dawn Winter