The book that broke my reading slump: The Lonely Fajita, by Abigail Mann

I’ve been struggling with settling down and getting stuck into a book recently. Maybe it’s the effect of going back to the office for the first time since March 2020, maybe it’s my current feeling of anxiety due to the state of the world, maybe it’s all down to Mercury being in retrograde, but I just haven’t been able to sit down and get lost in a story… That is until I picked up The Lonely Fajita by Abigail Mann, chosen purely because of its title and bright turquoise and pink cover, and which filled me with joy from first glance. This was exactly the story I needed to help me escape and Elissa was exactly the character I needed to help me laugh and release some anxiety.

I’ve come to accept that I am honestly and truly terrible at my job. Like, seriously bad. Until recently, I thought I’d naturally ‘come into my own’, like one of those women who gesticulate wildly in front of a flip chart with red nails and swishy fresh hair from the blow bar. I’ve had jobs where I’ve been decidedly average, like the bakery gig I had at university (I overstuffed the baguettes), or the two bar shifts I managed at the campus club (I self-diagnosed sleep deprivation and had to quit), but never wholly incompetent. Ironically, I’m not even earning a wage at this internship and it’s where I feel most out of my depth.

The Lonely Fajita

Elissa is 26 years-old, living in London and working as an intern doing the social media for an unsuccessful dating-app called Lovr. She lives with her boyfriend in a flat along with other flatmates who leave each other post-it notes regarding the strict times the heating is allowed to be switched on so passive-aggressive in tone it made me glad to no longer have to live with other people. She has no money, no family close by, and only a couple of friends who are also busy with their own lives: Elissa is lonely and struggling. And then her boyfriend leaves to go to South-East Asia and, as he was the rent-payer, Elissa is forced to look for other accommodation.

Then Elissa sees an advert to join the ElderCare Companionship Scheme, asking volunteers to move in with elderly members of the community to offer them friendship and help in the home. She applies on the basis that it offers low-cost accommodation and Annie, her new companion, soon proves to be far from the dodderingly infirm old woman that Elissa thinks she will be.

This book is a tender but also a laugh-out-loud funny look at loneliness and finding your identity in what feels to be an already overcrowded market. I loved the story of Elissa and Annie, how good they are for each other and the influence Annie has on Elissa’s life and work. Annie even inspires a new marketing campaign from Elissa to try and get Lovr back up in the ratings.

I think the book was also an accurate portrayal of how it must be living in London sometimes when you’re struggling for money and getting nowhere in your career. It also made some timely points about how dangerous it can feel to be a woman in a big city, too.

Since then, I’d half-heartedly thought about jogging in the evenings, but as it got darker, the chance of being attacked in the park increased, so I settled for a speed-walk to the tube as my primary form of exercise…

I wriggle into my Lycra leggings, roll a pair of patterned socks down to the ankle, and twist my mass of hair into something resembling a bun with an elastic band. I stretch in the corridor (I’m not quite ready to perform a lunge in public) and bolt out of the door with one earphone in (just like the internet told me to do) so I can listen for the footsteps of a potential attacker.

The Lonely Fajita

But this is a warm, gloriously funny story that was a pleasure to sink into and read and, as I could see the number of pages left to go growing thinner towards the end of the book, I was so sad to say goodbye to these wonderful characters. I implore Abigail Mann to write a sequel because I would love to know what Annie and Elissa get up to next!

What books have you been reading recently? What do you recommend to read to get out of a reading slump?