Madison Flight is a divorce lawyer, nicknamed ‘the Chair-Scraper’ for the number of times she leaps to her feet arguing in court. She has been contrary since birth, putting her mother through six days of labour before eventually being pulled out by forceps. ‘Is she saying no?’ asks the doctor, perplexed by the distinctive ‘Naaaaaaaaah!’ sound of her new-born wail.
Madison’s life begins with her voicing dissent and argument fills every moment of her adult life. Even her commute involves her quarrelling with the ticket officer about purchasing the lowest fare (she objects to an Oyster card because she doesn’t want ‘to be tagged and tracked like a sheep in transportation’); accusing a man who has bought a child ticket of being a thief; shouting at schoolboys for listening to loud music in the quiet carriage; forcing a girl out of the priority seat to make way for an elderly man, who protests that he is ‘not that old’; objecting to a quotation from Dolly Parton on the information board; and berating a barista for making her coffee too weak.
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