Lara Williams – författare

Brought to you by Penguin. WINNER of the GUARDIAN ''NOT THE BOOKER'' PRIZE 2019Selected in BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR - Vogue, TIME, Vulture, Woman and Home Devastatingly perceptive, savagely funny and wildly original - the essential coming-of-age story for our times. With the deadpan wit of Fleabag and ruthless insight of Cat Person, Lara Williams tells a tale of rage and joy, hunger and friendship, bodies and the space they take up in the world.Twenty-nine year old Roberta has spent her whole life hungry - until the day she invents Supper Club.Supper Club is a secret society for hungry women. Women who are sick of bad men and bad sex, of hinted expectations to talk less, take less, be less. So they gather after dark and feast until they are sick. They drink and dance and roar. And, month by month, their bodies expand.At the centre of the Supper Club stands Roberta - cynical yet anxious, precocious and lost. She is seeking the answer to a simple question: if you feed a starving woman, what will she grow into?This is a story about the hunger that never goes away. And it is a story about the people who make us what we are - who lead us astray and ultimately save us. You look hungry. Join the club.

Brought to you by Penguin.From the prize-winning author of Supper Club comes a wickedly funny and slyly poignant new satire on modern life - for fans of My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Convenience Store Woman, and J. G. Ballard''s High RiseMeet Ingrid. She works on a gargantuan luxury cruise liner, where she spends her days reorganizing the merchandise and waiting for long-term guests to drop dead in the changing rooms. On her days off, she disembarks from the ship and gets blind drunk on whatever the local alcohol is. It''s not a bad life. And it distracts her from thinking about the other life she left behind five years ago.Until one day she is selected for the employee mentorship scheme - an initiative run by the ship''s mysterious captain and self-anointed lifestyle guru, Keith, who pushes Ingrid further than she thought possible. But sooner or later, she will have to ask herself: how far is too far?Utterly original, mischievous and thought-provoking, The Odyssey is a merciless takedown of consumer capitalism and our anxious, ill-fated quests for something to believe in. And as its title suggests, it is a voyage that will eventually lead its unlikely heroine all the way home. Though she''d do almost anything to avoid getting there...© Lara Williams 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

"If you''re a young woman navigating life''s crazy and wondrous tumult, British writer Lara Williams'' new story collection A Selfie as Big as the Ritz is for you." — ELLEBritish author Lara Williams perfectly captures the bleak, surreal, and often hilarious period of life that every late-twenties woman will recognize in this charming audiobook. She finds herself single, twenty-nine, partially-employed, and about a half a stone overweight. Roller dexter of eligible friends rattling thin. Thirties breathing down her neck like an inappropriate uncle. She jogs. Looks good in turquoise. Finds herself punctuating gas “better out than in!” patting her stomach like a department store Santa. This is who I am, she thinks.The women in Lara Williams’ debut story collection, A Selfie as Big as the Ritz, navigate the tumultuous interval between early twenties and middle age. In the title story, a relationship implodes against the romantic backdrop of Paris. In “One of Those Life Things,” a young woman struggles to say the right thing at her best friend’s abortion. In “Penguins,” a girlfriend tries to accept her boyfriend’s bizarre sexual fantasy. In “Treats,” a single woman comes to terms with her loneliness. As Williams’ characters attempt to lean in, fall in love, hold together a family, fend off loneliness, and build a meaningful life, we see them alternating between expectation and resignation, giddiness and melancholy, the rollercoaster we all find ourselves on.“A dark wonder. An often harrowing (and in parts, very, very funny) debut, it targets the unfathomable nonsense of relationships, work and modern living with a keen eye, head-spinning wordplay and enough compassion to crush your heart. Buy it for everyone you know." —The Skinny