A marital crisis with a difference: out goes the husband, in moves his AI sex doll

Sarah Crossan’s Hey, Zoey is deep, relatable, depressing, and darkly funny

Deep exploration of intimacy: Sarah Crossan. Photo: Ger Holland

Ksenia Samotiy

Books by women, for women, about failed marriages and subsequent rediscovery of self are never in short supply, from inspiring/vomit-inducing memoirs through to serious self-help books. Hey, Zoey is an unusual, fresh take on the genre, if only because of its outlandish scenario.

The main character is Dolores, a middle-aged, middle-class woman whose life gradually becomes intertwined with an animatronic sex doll, Zoey 2.0 — though not perhaps in the way you might expect from that description (it’s not Barbarella.)