Small Joys

Normal People meets Ghosts, and would appeal to readers of Open Water and Luster It is 2005 and Harley has just dropped out of an undergraduate course in music journalism, having led his estranged father to believe that he was training to become a chemical engineer. Moving back to a shared flat in Kent, and in the midst of an unfulfilling affair with an abusive older white man, he feels lost and isolated. But when his attempt to finally end things is interrupted by his flatmate, Muddy, his perspective on life changes. Muddy is everything Harley isn't: confident in his masculinity, ostensibly heterosexual, warm and straight forward. Slowly, their friendship blossoms as Muddy introduces Harley to the things he loves - birdwatching, Oasis, rugby - and Harley starts to believe that life may, after all, be worth living. By turns a moving depiction of mental health, queerness, race and masculinity, as well as a sometimes hilarious coming-of-age story, Small Joys is a breath-taking first novel that marks the arrival of a major new talent.