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

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Normal People meets Ghosts, and wouldappeal 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 onlifechanges. Muddy is everything Harley isnt: 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. Byturns a moving depiction of mental health, queerness, race and masculinity, as well as a sometimes hilarious coming-of-age story, Small Joysis a breath-taking first novel that marks the arrival of a major new talent.

Author Bio

ElvinJamesMensahwas born and raised in South East London. He graduated from Bournemouth University, where he began writing his first novel,Small Joys.