Despite the writerly style and abundance of direct and indirect literary allusions, particularly toĪlice's Adventures In Wonderland (Lewis Carroll's poemĪ Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky inspired her use of present tense in the book), this is first and foremost a compelling, multilayered reflection on the 'coming out' of poker. What's this? Where's all the jazzy lingo, the stuff about cowboys and bullets and snowmen? No worries. Clink-burble-clatter go the chips and the drinks in the other room. Don't want to solve equations, don't want to write up the effects of iodine on saliva, don't want to learn the dates of Henry VIII or draw an oxbow lake. I've been staring at the same page for an hour. I like the madness below stairs, the rebellion of the uncontainable games, the playfulness and cruelty, disguises and secrecy, the whirligigs of time bringing their revenges. Where does he come from? Where does he go? Nobody knows. I like Illyria, the magical island of nowhere. So I was delighted but not completely surprised when I started readingįor Richer, For Poorer and came across these sentences at the beginning of chapter one, with Coren reflecting on her first poker stirrings: 'We're doing She also co-wrote with Charles Skelton a book about porn, Her father is late journalist Alan Coren (who once edited Punch magazine) and she co-edited an anthology of his writings,Ĭhocolate and Cuckoo Clocks: The Essential Alan Coren.

Indeed, the Oxford-educated Coren writes weekly columns for The Observer and The Guardian.

For richer for poorer victoria coren