Accidental Darlings: The darkly hilarious new novel from Polari Prize-shortlisted author Crystal Jeans

'Delightfully subversive, I loved it' RED The darkly funny new novel from Polari Prize-shortlisted author Crystal Jeans, inspired in part by Dickens' Great Expectations… It’s 1924, and the village of Skimpole is full of secrets. When Anastasia’s mother dies, she must move in with ‘the Aunt’ – a writer, too fearsome for a first name, who lives in a dilapidated mansion with her dogs. But mysteries abound: who wrote the raunchy love letters she discovers in the Aunt’s bedroom, signed ‘Big Willy’? Why do the villagers hate the Aunt so much? And how did Anastasia’s father, who passed before she was born, really die? When the Aunt’s friends arrive at the house one summer, wreathed in cigarette smoke and an air of debauchery, Anastasia may be closer to finding answers – but the truth will turn her world upside down… This historical fiction novel, set in the 20th century, explores the life of a family in the gothic setting of rural Skimpole. The LGBTQ+ themes and the coming-of-age narrative make it a top pick for readers. For fans of Alison Espach (Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance), Taylor Jenkins Reid (Carrie Soto Is Back), Malinda Lo (Last Night at the Telegraph Club), Kirsty Capes (Girls), and Alice Winn (In Memoriam). HarperCollins 2024