All the Little Bird-Hearts: Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023 (Paperback) - Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow

For readers of SORROW AND BLISS or ALL MY PUNY SORROWS: an unforgettable literary debut exploring motherhood, vulnerability, and the way the world closes ranks against those it considers to be different

*LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE FOR FICTION 2023*
'Delicate and strong... I loved it' Maggie O'Farrell'
'Darkly vivacious... mesmerising' Guardian
'Immaculate' Financial Times
'A triumph' Daily Telegraph

For readers who loved Sorrow and Bliss or Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - an unforgettable story of a mother and daughter whose lives are upended when a charming new couple move in next door.

Sunday Forrester lives with her sixteen-year-old daughter, Dolly, in the house she grew up in. She does things more carefully than most people. On quiet days, she must eat only white foods. Her etiquette handbook guides her through confusing social situations, and to escape, she turns to her treasury of Sicilian folklore. The one thing very much out of her control is Dolly - her clever, headstrong, teenaged daughter.

Into this carefully ordered world step Vita and Rollo, a couple who move in next door, disarm Sunday with their charm, and proceed to deliciously break just about every rule in Sunday's book. Soon they are in and out of each others' homes, and Sunday feels loved and accepted like never before. But beneath Vita and Rollo's polish lies something else, something darker. For beneath Vita's charm lies a desperation and a certain entitled ambition - to have a daughter just like Dolly, all to herself.

About the Author

Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Kent, and has extensive personal, professional, and academic experience relating to autism. Like her protagonist Sunday in ALL THE LITTLE BIRD-HEARTS, Viktoria is autistic. She has presented her doctoral research internationally, most recently speaking at Harvard University on autism and literary narrative. Viktoria lives with her husband and children on the coast of north-east Kent.