Ever feel like you’re losing a race you never signed up for? 

The Shelf has been one of my favourite books of the summer of 2020 — if not the whole year.

Amy Wright feels like she’s being left behind. Everyone she knows is getting married and having children — or, at least, that’s what social media would have her believe.

Her boyfriend, Jamie, tells her he’s whisking her away as part of a surprise and Amy reckons that this is the moment: the one where he’ll get down on one knee and pop the question.

But it turns from happily ever after to living nightmare when he breaks up with her and leaves her on the set of The Shelf, a reality TV series that comes across as a bit of a Love Island meets Big Brother crossover.

Amy and the other housemates are all dumped on live TV, before being tasked with completing a number of embarrassing tasks to be named ‘The Keeper’.

But it isn’t long until the contestants start to point out just how wrong the idea of the show is: they point out how ridiculous some of the tasks are; they speak out about the kinds of pressure that women face to be maternal, to be the perfect housewife.

Most of all, though, they point out the importance of forging your own path — what is right for one person may not be right for another; and that you don’t have to follow the path that society deems to be traditional.

A heartwarming and refreshing read, I can’t recommend The Shelf enough. And I can’t wait to see what Helly Acton does next.