Jem Calder

If you've been waiting for someone to close the gap on social distancing, to capture the furtive problems of social media, to make you laugh at your own alienation, to wrap your mind around the narcissism of small differences, then Calder is your new best friend, and his debut collection is the must-read book of the year. - Andrew O'Hagan...

AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVELIST OF 2026 'Prepare to see this everywhere.' Elle 'I was totally invested.' Saba Sams 'I was utterly enthralled.' Leslie Jamison 'Jem Calder is my new favourite writer.' Andrew O'Hagan 'Will appeal to Cleopatra And Frankenstein fans, and the setting and themes is reminiscent of Evenings And Weekends.' Stylist Chuck and Joey meet in a bar....

Each time Joey leaves Chuck's plush apartment, it's with a fuller sense that he might just be the person for her. His smile, his maturity. The shared interests. The way he warms her hands in his. Ignore the differences - the twelve-year-age gap, her small damp house-share, her meagre barista wages. Trying to explain it doesn't explain it at all....