Green Dot by Madeleine Gray – Book review

Loved, loved, loved Green Dot by Australian author, Madeleine Gray! Green Dot is a highly nuanced love story told from the perspective of Hera, who is the ‘other woman’, the mistress, if you will. It’s the first book I’ve read with a lead character giving this POV, so it was really interesting. But I mainly loved it due to the fantastic dry, witty writing style of Madeleine Gray.

Opening sentence: For some years of my twenties I was very much in love with a man who would not leave his wife.

Green Dot has one of the most succinct opening sentences I’ve come across in a while in terms of plot summary. The above is indeed what this story is all about: Hera Stephens, our narrator, and her relationship with Arthur. Her older, married colleague. She often talks directly to us through the story, which really works to draw you right in.

Set in Sydney, Australia (and a little in London) in 2019 and later 2020 where the pandemic is woven really effectively into the story (something Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld also did so well – and yes, if you enjoyed that book, you’ll love Green Dot). We first meet Hera when she is job hunting after her PHD. Having rinsed academia for as long as she can, she now has to face the horrors of finding a job to pay the bills.

Why would anyone dream about having a job? I felt like the world was trying to trick me. I felt like the butt of a joke I did not understand.

Hera’s world consists mainly of her dad, her dog, Jude and friends Sarah and Sophie. When she does get a job as a comment moderator on a newspaper, she ends up sharing a bank of desks with Arthur, a journalist. Due to the aforementioned forced nature of her taking this role, she looks for anything to make the days more interesting and sparks up (mainly through the internal message system) a friendship with Arthur.

I don’t know if it’s because my feelings are real or because it’s something to do.

Their friendship develops and while her move into mistress isn’t unwitting – she finds out Arthur is married and still continues – she is in too deep when the truth is revealed to her, so you can see why she keeps believing Arthur when he says he will leave his wife.

You always want what you can’t have

The reason Green Dot works so well is that you are so invested in Hera. Despite her character being in morally ambiguous territory with a lot of her actions, how she flexes her behaviour – love delusion, basically – for Arthur, and is so aware of the insanity of what she’s doing but does it anyway, is actually such a relatable trait. And the reason you are always on her side. She finds herself in this situation but it is ultimately a cumulation of all areas of her life.

I wanted him to be what I needed, and so that is what he became.

A Green Light for Green Dot

Side note: I love that Green Dot has a pop-culture reference to the Murder on the Dancefloor by Sophie Ellis-Bexter video which is amazing timing as surely this would have been written way before Saltburn made the song viral? I also think if you enjoyed Saltburn, you will love Green Dot. There are lots of other great pop-cultural refs scattered throughout too, case in point:

I’ve been re-watching Fleabag but haven’t we all.

I laughed so many time when reading, this is such a funny, clever, heart-warming and heart-breaking book. You’ll fall for Hera’s story – you’ll be so frustrated by her, want to help her, want her to stop and want her to succeed in equal measure. She is absolutely someone I would love to go for a drink with. Green Dot is a fantastic exploration of a complex love situation. And a woman working out just what she really wants from life. Loved it!

• Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC;
• Get your copy of Green Dot here;
• Published by Orion 18th January 2024;
• 256 pages;
• My rating: