'Clover Hendry's Day Off' review

What starts as a normal Thursday quickly transforms into, well, not a normal Thursday. Something’s in the air — and maybe also inside that pill Clover Hendry took — and today, she’s going to do all those things she never allowed herself to do. Starting with taking the day off.

“Clover Hendry’s Day Off” by Beth Morrey is a Ferris Bueller-inspired 24-hour adventure in which one 40-something pushover of a working mom says to heck with it and lives life for herself for a change.

Clover’s newfound superpower — being able to say “No” and disallowing others to bulldoze right over her — is infectiously freeing.

But, much as we might want, it can’t all be confrontation and giggles as this newly carefree woman jaunts around London. After all, if Clover becomes a self-centered tyrant, isn’t she just as bad as her boss who holds time-wasting meetings to hear his own voice, and the huffy businessmen who commandeer cabs that other people hailed, and ill-behaved children who run screaming through museums — the very people who would normally ruin her day?

Still, Clover is a fabulous character. Copiously clad with humor and astute observations, each turn is like a tiny gift you get to unwrap. Every triumph is an indulgence to savor and every unfavorable outcome a bitter but welcome vibe-check.

But before you settle in for 300 pages of fun and high jinks, be warned that Morrey has slipped in pockets of seriousness, including a panic-attack-inducing, late-stage surprise that artfully avoids trauma porn while surfacing unresolved psychological wounds.

Morrey’s novel has everything: drugs, priceless art, mommy issues, yappy dogs, sweet revenge, imaginary alpacas, laughs, tears, post-lockdown malaise, and, of course, a bunny.

Are any of those things actually important to the plot? You’ll have to read to find out, and it will be worth it.