A new Sunday Times bestseller from the author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry with a very different but equally unlikely and heartrending hero. A story of secrets, a terrible mistake, and the destructive nature of perfection.
A new Sunday Times bestseller from the author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry with a very different but equally unlikely and heartrending hero. A story of secrets, a terrible mistake, and the destructive nature of perfection.
Rachel Joyce is the author of the Sunday Times and international
bestsellers The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Perfect, The
Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, The Music Shop, Miss Benson's
Beetle and a collection of interlinked short stories, A Snow Garden
& Other Stories. Her new novel, Maureen Fry & the Angel of the
North is out now. The film of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
will be released on 28 April 2023.
Rachel's books have been translated into thirty-six languages. The
Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was shortlisted for the
Commonwealth Book prize and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Rachel was awarded the Specsavers National Book Awards 'New Writer
of the Year' in December 2012 and shortlisted for the 'UK Author of
the Year' 2014.
Rachel has also written over twenty original afternoon plays and
adaptations of the classics for BBC Radio 4, including all the
Bronte novels. She moved to writing after a long career as an
actor, performing leading roles for the RSC, the National Theatre
and Cheek by Jowl.
She lives with her family in Gloucestershire.
A near-flawless novel of emotional truth. Joyce executes this story
with precision and flair... Its unputdownable factor lies in its
exploration of so many multilayered emotions... It is her clever
did-I-read-that-right twist at the end that really got to me and
had me scrabbling back through the chapters, open-mouthed.
*Evening Standard*
The power of Joyce's prose lies in small, astute observations...
[her] subtle touches give the book an intense, slightly mesmeric
feel. Tense and engrossing... readers who loved The Unlikely
Pilgrimage of Harold Fry will not be disappointed.
*Sunday Times*
Joyce's faith in the essential goodness of humanity and her
observation of the comedy in the everyday shine through... This is
a darker, more complex novel than Joyce's first but readers will
find other points of comparison. Not least a twist that few will
see coming and will leave you reeling; and a redemptive ending that
is perhaps the sweeter given all the pain that goes before. An
instant classic, Perfect confirms Rachel Joyce as a major new
British literary voice.
*Daily Express*
Diana herself is faultless. She is to Perfect what Harold Fry was
to [The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry]: a fully rounded hero,
someone to fall in love with and argue about, cherish and admonish,
as though she were real... If only there were more novelists like
Rachel Joyce
*Telegraph*
What’s right with it? You’ll fall in love with the characters.
They’re kind, anxious, flawed, funny and wonderful. Also, knowing
that the two stories will have to meet builds a wonderful sense of
tension. What’s wrong with it? Nothing. It’s brilliant. Even the
fact that Byron is convinced that scientists tried to slip an extra
two seconds into time is a wonderful hook for all the decisions he
goes on to make. Verdict: Uplifting, engaging, sad and funny. A
perfect follow-up to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.
*Heat magazine's #1 book to be reading right now (July)*
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