SHORTLISTED FOR THE KATE O'BRIEN AWARD. A BRITISH BLACKLIST BEST BOOK OF 2024

Alone among the lush tangle of plants on his balcony, Earl watches as a broken family reunites in the flat below.

There's Livia, who has been running for long enough to think her past might never catch up with her. Now she's forced to catch her breath and face the daughter she left behind. Then Mickey, angry about having a mother who left, a father who died, about the mess she's made of her own life.

With no other place to go, she needs the mother who abandoned her. And Summer, whose new grandmother is weird, and whose mum is always sad or out looking for men to distract her. Left to roam, she finds friends who are willing to give her the attention that Mickey won't.

But are they as kind as she thinks they are? Burning with hope and desire, No Small Thing evokes the power and pain of mothering, and the damage we can do to the people we should love the most.