Small Joys - A Buzzfeed 'Amazing New Book You Need to Read ASAP'

The sensational debut novel about love, friendship and finding happiness in the most unexpected places. ‘A captivatingly tender novel … It’s beautiful’ N atasha Onwuemezi, The Bookseller Sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to find. ‘Could I one day inspire happiness in others, the same way he seemed to do in me?’ Harley is a young queer Black man struggling to find his way in mid-noughties Britain. Returning to his home on the outskirts of London, having just dropped out of an undergraduate course in music journalism, he is wracked by feelings of failure and inadequacy. Standing in the local woods one day, on the verge of doing something drastic and irreversible, his hand is stayed by a stranger: a tall husky guy who emerges from the bushes holding a pair of binoculars. Muddy is a person whose lust for his own life makes others feel better by association. A keen birdwatcher, rugby fanatic and Oasis obsessive, he quickly becomes a devoted and loyal friend to Harley who finds his enthusiasm infectious and his dimples irresistible. In no time at all, they become inseparable. Harley starts to think that life may be worth living after all, while Muddy discovers things about himself that the lads down the rugby club may struggle to understand. However, when figures from the past threaten to plunge Harley back into the depths of depression, his only hope of survival is Muddy and the small joys they create together. Moving, funny and tender, Small Joys is an epic novel about ordinary lives that introduces the world to an unforgettable cast of characters and a major new literary talent.

Product details

• Authors: Elvin James Mensah
• Publisher: Scribner UK
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 13.04.2023
• EAN: 9781398514898
• ISBN: 978-1-398-51489-8
• No. of pages: 400
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; FICTION / General, FICTION / Coming of Age, Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), FICTION / Family Life / General, FICTION / Humorous / General, FICTION / Literary, FICTION / Friendship, Narrative theme: Interior life, Narrative theme: Social issues, Narrative theme: Coming of age, Humorous fiction, Narrative theme: Identity / belonging, Fiction: general and literary, Narrative theme: Love and relationships, FICTION / World Literature / England / General, FICTION / LGBTQ+ / Gay, FICTION / Romance / LGBTQ+ / Gay, FICTION / LGBTQ+ / General, Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary