A Little Life

Four friends leave college for New York, and one of them carries a past he will spend the whole novel refusing to explain. Hanya Yanagihara's book tracks ambition, money, art and friendship across decades, but its centre is Jude, whose history surfaces slowly and at considerable cost to the reader's composure. The prose is patient, the timeline long, and the treatment of abuse, chronic pain and loyalty is unsparing. It has become a reference point in contemporary literary fiction, admired and argued over in roughly equal measure. Before you start: • A decades-long story built around four sustained friendships • Difficult material, including abuse and self-harm, handled directly • Prose that rewards unhurried reading over long stretches • Widely discussed by book clubs and literary readers alike Suited to adult readers of character-driven literary fiction who are prepared for demanding subject matter. Published by Pan MacMillan and available at Boipoka.