The Unexpected

(Paperback)

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Loved this clever and funny novel Anna Mazzola
'A heartwarming depiction of female friendship as a bond stronger than any other' The Times

'Moving' Daily Mail

A funny, addictive and poignant novel about what happens when the lines between friendship, romance, and family begin to blur. For fans of Meg Mason and Dolly Alderton.
A funny, addictive and poignant novel about what happens when the lines between friendship, romance, and family begin to blur. For fans of Meg Mason and Dolly Alderton.

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Kessie and Robin have been best friends since they were small. Now theyve reached their mid-thirties, and biological clocks are ticking loudly. But Kessie is single, Robins partner is ambivalent about trying for a baby, and single parenting sounds almost impossible.

When one of them gets pregnant, the other finds herself helping out to an extent that neither had expected. How far is a supportive friend supposed to go What do you do when you feel like a mother to a child who isnt yours Are there alternative ways to conceive of a family

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Wiles writes with humour, tenderness and wisdom' Marianne Levy

'An intelligent, thought-provoking, tender and very real exploration of friendship, pregnancy and the changing face of modern parenting' Susannah Wise

'I didn't want this novel to endoffers a brutally honest portrait of motherhood in its joys and despairs. Radiant' Donna Freitas

'This novel reminds us that chosen families are as complicated, messy and thick with love as biological ones' Rowan Hisayo Buchanan

'Original, thoughtful, stimulating and highly readable' Vesna Goldsworthy

Readers love Ellen Wiles

'Absorbed from page one' Reader review,

'A fantastic read. I was completely gripped throughout' Reader review,

'Communicates a difficult topic with incredible insight and poetic language. I became completely absorbed by the characters' Reader review,

'Loved the characters and the way the story was told through them' Reader review,

Reviews

'A thought-provoking and unputdownable story' My Weekly

'Ellen Wiles shows us how legal forces can shape our most intimate lives. This novel reminds us that chosen families are as complicated, messy and thick with love as biological ones.' Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of The Sleepwatcher

'Moving and witty, smart and indelible on female friendship and chosen families' Rosie Dastgir, author of A Small Fortune

Praise for the author

'A book that makes you see the world differently' Jacinda Ardern, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand

'A wonderful book brilliantly vivid and human, and I was completely taken up by the story. The characters felt real and the depiction of the shadow world of refugees and how we regard them rang true. I'm so glad to have read it and hope it reaches many people.' Maurice Wren, Chief Executive of the Refugee Council

'A compelling contemporary story that shines a light on the lives of migrants and refugees and our search for common humanity'. Sita Brahmachari, author of Artichoke Hearts

A fierce, big-hearted novel that celebrates the power of compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. It takes a special gift to explore an issue so urgent and so complex in such an emotionally satisfying way. Ellen Wiles has this gift. Joe Treasure, author of The Book of Air

A sensitive, affecting novel, which looks behind the headlines to explore the experience of an asylum seeker in the UK Francesca Rhydderch, author of The Rice Paper Diaries

'A deeply felt novel using a technique that literally 'gets behind the headlines' on asylum' Tim Finch, author of The House of Journalists

A brilliant novel that gives voice to those often silenced or dispossessed' Paul Burston, author of The Black Path

'I absolutely loved it. It's beautifully written, fascinating, emotional, serious, brilliant'. Gemma Seltzer, author of Speak to Strangers

Author Bio

Ellen Wiles was born in 1981 and grew up in Reading. Hoping to "change the world", she did a Masters in law and human rights at UCL, and became a barrister at a London chambers, disappearing off periodically to work with Bushmen in Botswana and Burmese refugees in a camp in Thailand. She is the author of Saffron Shadows and Salvaged Scripts: Literary Life in Myanmar Under Censorship and in Transition (Columbia University Press, 2015) which includes new translations of novel extracts, stories and poems as well as extended interviews and descriptions of the place and the people. This is her first novel.