The Awkward Age

**Selected as a 2017 Book of the Year in the Financial Times**

'A very smart, soulful, compelling, elegantly written domestic novel' Nick Hornby

In a Victorian terraced house, in north-west London, two families unite in imperfect harmony. After five years of widowhood, Julia is deeply, unexpectedly in love. If only her beloved daughter, Gwen, didn't hate James so much. At the very least, she could be civil to his son, Nathan. Bringing together two households was never going to be easy, but Gwen's struggle for independence, and the teenagers' unexpected actions, will threaten Julia's new happiness.

The Awkward Age is about the blended family; about starting over and the attempt to build something beautiful amid the mess and complexity of what came before. It is a story about standing by the ones we love, even while they hurt us. We would do anything to make our children happy, wouldn't we?

About the Author :
Francesca Segal is an award-winning writer and journalist. Her first novel, The Innocents, won the 2012 Costa First Novel Award, the 2012 National Jewish Book Award for Fiction, the 2013 Sami Rohr Prize, and a Betty Trask Award. It was also long-listed for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. She lives in London with her family.

Review :
It’s beautifully written A very smart, soulful, compelling, elegantly written domestic novel Francesca Segal is incisive on modern lives, penetrating and thoughtful - and yet always joyfully entertaining and stylishly readable. Segal’s wit and intelligence are entirely her own and the moral dilemmas of her characters could not be more modern… Segal has a superb eye for the lies that the middle-aged lovers tell themselves, and they are jolted back to reality when it all goes spectacularly wrong. It is nearly a tragedy, but not quite; she’s just too funny Elegant… an entertaining look at the messy business of trying to be in a family in emotionally trying circumstances… Irresistible A story that is equal parts hilarious and devastating Francesa Segal is precise and funny, and The Awkward Age is brimming with keen observations of the highest order--the clever, the sore, and the sublime. Segal… is a sharp observer of the tribulations of teenage love and modern relationships. Particularly strong on how blind parents are towards their ghastly offspring’s flaws, this book is a lively, quick-witted performance In Francesca Segal’s magnificent new novel The Awkward Age, romantic and parental love go head to head, stress-testing loyalties and bonds with heartbreaking consequences… Genius… An impressively nuanced and convincing portrait of maternal love… a painful delight to read, invoking a perfectly balanced oscillation between compassion and frustration Themes of non-nuclear family life, the everyday fractures and renovations inherent to relationships of any kind, amid moments of pitch-perfect comic tension… Segal navigates these re-drawn battle lines with skill and sensitivity… There is no precise time, we are reminded, at which life becomes less tangled, at which personalities are formed as in aspic: we can see that all ages are awkward, but some are more awkward than others Movingly insightful about love, grief, birth and parenting, funny about teenagers and compassionate about ageing, The Awkward Age is a witty, compelling delight. An adept, comic study of shifting priorities and the continual flux of child-parent relationships humorous, wise, well-observed She takes six characters… and plonks them in sturdy houses in Hampstead, sets the clock, and lets the story play out… Like a good piece of Bach, what unfolds has an inevitability to it but manages also to be surprising at every moment. Segal has an uncanny ability to climb into the mind of each character and show us convincingly exactly what he or she would think, say and do Francesca Segal’s sharply observed second novel asks what parents owe to their children, and vice versa… A great premise for a novel, and Segal handles it expertly… Everyday family interactions – the deep, primal resentments played out over a bowl of porridge, or a shopping list – are observed warmly and yet with hawk-like precision… skilfully crafted morality tale for our times Segal excels at character minutiae, switching protagonists from page to page but still doing each one justice… By the end of the book, I felt I would recognise these people waking down Haverstock Hill, albeit that I might not want to stop for a chat… As a comedy of manners though, The Awkward Age is entertaining and intelligently written Francesca Segal gets the tricky mother/teenage daughter relationship just right in her sharply observant The Awkward Age. Segal’s writing is a joy – funny, wise, and sharply observant... Terrific By turns tender, brutal, mordantly funny, and heartbreaking, The Awkward Age is preternaturally knowing about fractured families, and young, middle-aged, and elder love. Every sentence is gorgeously, masterfully written. I loved it as I’ve loved no other recent novel. Francesca Segal is a major novelist A beguiling story about the oceans between family members, generations, and continents and the journeys we make to reach each other on the other side There are moments in Francesca Segal’s novel when you are so caught up in the characters that you want to shout at them as though they are your own friends… Think rows, sulks, unexpected relationships and sweet romance all dissected with an elegantly forensic precision Terrific, sharply observed… Segal gets the precarious mother-teenage daughter relationship spot on Segal’s is a clever, cruel, redemptive, psychologically acute novel that made this reader glad to have been at school just too early for Facebook, selfies and an “online community” baying for news of your latest boyfriend Thoughtful and beautifully observed A gripping foray into second families Thanks to its occasional moments of emotional veracity, The Awkward Age will be praised as a worthy successor to Segal’s debut Francesca Segal is an accomplished writer. She neatly describes the clash of cultures between the academically rigorous education enjoyed by Nathan and Gwen’s freer, no-holds-barred comprehensive school. There is an engaging and colourful cast of characters… Segal vividly conveys the difficulties faced by imperfectly blended families This is a warm, funny book dealing with a most modern matter A brilliant, thoroughly modern family drama from the author of The Innocents Punchy… Segal tackles her subject with humour and intelligence and a wealth of memorable characters