#ReadWithMC (opens in new tab)-Welcome to Marie Claire's virtual book club. It's a pleasure to meet you, and for the month of June we will be reading author Naoise Dolan's debut novel, Exciting Times (opens in a new tab). The novel is about an Irish millennial stationed in Hong Kong who falls in a love triangle with a male banker and a female lawyer. The novel follows an Irish millennial living in Hong Kong who finds herself in a love triangle with a male banker and a female lawyer. (You really don't have to get off the couch; it's a great way to get to know the man and the woman.)

I was sad in Dublin and thought it was Dublin's fault and that Hong Kong could help.

My TEFL school was in a commercial district in a pastel tower. They only hired white people, but they made sure not to put that in writing. Like sharks' teeth, teachers quit and were replaced. Most of the teachers were backpackers who quit when they saved enough money in Thailand. I didn't know who I was, but I assumed the Thais didn't either. I lacked warmth, so I mainly taught grammar classes. I found this liberating and invigorating from the way people usually valued women.

Students came to lessons every week. We taught back to back over lunch. I became known as the resident Lady Mac because I urinated in between lessons.

When I returned from my bathroom break, "Ava, where have you been?" said Joan, the manager. She was one of the first Hong Kongers I had ever met.

"It was five minutes," I said.

"Where did that minute come from?" said Joan. 'My parents pay for 60 minutes a week.'

"Why don't you finish class a little early? I said. 'Start the next class a little later. It's two minutes from one side and two minutes from the other."

"But that would be two minutes from the beginning of the middle class and two minutes from the end." Joan tried to gesture, but found it difficult to make a three-class sandwich using both hands. As if it were my fault, she abandoned the effort with a reluctant sigh.

I had to appeal it to a higher power.

The director, Benny, was 40 years old, wearing a baseball cap backwards, dressed to please no one, either to look like he liked working with kids or to emphasize that he was the boss. Born in Hong Kong, educated in Canada, repatriated, and prosperous, he runs 12 other schools and an Irish seaweed company. He spoke of this last place he "went back" to, Connemara, a place neither of us had ever been. This is indicative of his character, as he does not like to part with currency.

When Benny came to pay me at the end of July, I told him I was thinking about leaving. [he said. ' and he said. [I need to go to the bathroom between classes. If I don't, I'll get a UTI."

"That's why you quit."

He was right. Aside from anything else, I didn't quit because of their racist hiring policies, so it was odd that I would quit because I couldn't pee whenever I wanted.

I was willing to do anything for money. When I was in college in Ireland, I had a savings account that I charmingly called my "abortion fund." It had 1,500 euros in it until the end. I knew several women who saved with their friends, and we all helped the unlucky ones. But I didn't trust anyone. I worked as a waitress to make money and kept it growing, even after I had enough for my surgery in England. I loved watching my balance grow. The richer you get, the harder it is for someone to force you to do something.

Just before I left for Hong Kong, I took my final exam. I counted how many hours I waited at the table while they handed out the papers. Weeks of my life had gone into that savings account. As long as I lived in Ireland, and as long as abortion was illegal, I had to keep my dead time locked away.

That night I spent most of my money booking a plane to Hong Kong and a room for the first month and started applying for teaching jobs, leaving Dublin three weeks later,

I was told that I would be leaving for Hong Kong in a week.

During the week we started, they told me what was common in Hong Kong English and told me to correct the kids when they used it. "I go already" meant "I went," which was a mistake, although I learned to understand it within the first few days. "Lah" for emphasis was not English. It was no different than an Irishman putting "sure" in the right place. English was British.

From "Exciting Times" by Naoise Dolan. Copyright 2020 by Naoise Dolan. Excerpted with permission of Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

If you prefer audio, listen to the exclusive excerpt below and read the rest of the book on Audible (opens in a new tab).

Audio excerpt from "Exciting Times" by Naoise Dolan, read by Aoife McMahon, courtesy of Harper Audio.

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