Liquid by Mariam Rahmani Hardback

'My career had gone nowhere. My love life was non-existent. And as for s*x - here I was, home alone on a Saturday night with a chick flick playing on my laptop because I didn't own a TV. You can draw your own conclusions.'

Our protagonist always believed herself to be the smartest person in the room. But a couple of years on from earning a fancy PhD, she's still broke, single and stuck in a job going nowhere. One option remains: marry rich.

Her summer becomes a whirlwind of dating: martinis with a lazy heir, board games with a butch producer and a Venmo request from a 'socialist' trust-fund babe. However, when some unexpected and tragic news takes her - and her project - to Tehran she is forced to ask and answer some overdue questions about family, connection and, terrifyingly, her own purpose in life and in love.