{"title":"Books by Susannah Dickey","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781804991046","title":"Common Decency","description":"\u003cbr\u003e'Susannah Dickey is a phenomenal talent and I loved this novel.' ELIZABETH DAY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A vivid and beautifully written novel that confirms [Dickey] as one of literature's major new talents ... its quiet despair is genuinely affecting' \u003ci\u003eOBSERVER\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'[A] treat . . . vividly compelling . . . a rare talent' \u003ci\u003eSUNDAY TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Seriously readable' \u003ci\u003eDAILY MAIL\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e'I loved \u003ci\u003eCommon Decency . . .\u003c\/i\u003e a surprising, clever, sad and strange book  . . . such a propulsive joy to read too.' MEGAN NOLAN \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Susannah Dickey is, quite simply, one of the funniest and most insightful novelists writing today.' NELL FRIZZELL\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFROM THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF \u003ci\u003eTENNIS LESSONS\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn an apartment building in Belfast, two women wrestle with the sorrows and spectres of love and loss.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSince her mother's death, Lily has withdrawn from the world, trapped between grief and anger. She has to break out of this damaging cycle - but how?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUpstairs, Siobhán is consumed by her affair with a married man. Her days revolve around his sporadic texts and rare visits. She barely notices the strange girl who lives below and dawdles in the foyer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut Lily is keeping a close eye on her neighbour, whose life seems so much better and more fulfilling than her own. When resentment evolves into something darker and more urgent, she decides to teach Siobhán a lesson...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the critically acclaimed author of \u003ci\u003eTennis Lessons comes\u003c\/i\u003e a darkly powerful novel about two lives running closely in parallel but divided by gulfs of misunderstanding. With boundless wisdom and deep empathy, Dickey charts the anonymity and hidden intimacies of modern existence, and our profound human need to connect.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Sharp as tacks, extremely funny and deeply moving. This novel is very good company.' JAN CARSON\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A poignant, deft portrayal of love, obsession and grief' \u003ci\u003eSTYLIST\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Rich and absorbing . . . thrilling and engaging' \u003ci\u003eIRISH TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'[A]n unsettling, bewitching tale about loneliness, connection and obsession.' EVENING STANDARD \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePRAISE FOR SUSANNAH DICKEY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'I loved \u003ci\u003eTennis Lessons \u003c\/i\u003eso much. Susannah is a phenomenally talented writer' ELIZABETH DAY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A raw, fierce, shockingly honest coming-of-age story' LOUISE O'NEILL\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Incredibly funny . . . by turns charming and disgusting and I loved it' NELL FRIZZELL\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Brilliant . . . a wonderful writer, hugely talented, very funny and insightful' ALAN DAVIES\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Propulsive . . . brilliantly vivid . . . stays in the mind long after reading' \u003ci\u003eIRISH TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A beautifully written and psychologically incisive bildungsroman...the arrival of a young writer to watch' \u003ci\u003eOBSERVER\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43172765270194,"sku":"9781804991046","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781804991046.jpg?v=1786028241"},{"product_id":"9781784165055","title":"Tennis Lessons","description":"\u003cb\u003eFor fans of I MAY DESTROY YOU and FLEABAG and for readers who want to laugh and cry: the brave, beautiful, sometimes brutal story of a young misfit and her rocky road to womanhood, stopping at each year along the way.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'I loved \u003ci\u003eTennis Lessons \u003c\/i\u003eso much. Susannah is a phenomenally talented writer' \u003cb\u003eELIZABETH DAY\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A raw, fierce, shockingly honest coming-of-age story' \u003cb\u003eLOUISE O'NEILL\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Incredibly funny . . . by turns charming and disgusting and I loved it' \u003cb\u003eNELL FRIZZELL \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou're strange and wrong. You've known it from the beginning.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is the voice that rings in your ears. Because you never say the right thing. You're a disappointment to everyone. You're a far cry from beautiful - and your thoughts are ugly too.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou seem bound to fail, bound to break. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut you know what it is to laugh with your best friend, to feel the first tentative tingles of attraction, to take exquisite pleasure in the affront of your unruly body.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou just need to find your place.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom dead pets and crashed cars to family traumas and misguided love affairs, Susannah Dickey's revitalizing debut novel plunges us into the private world of one young woman as she navigates her rocky way to adulthood.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Brilliant . . . a wonderful writer, hugely talented, very funny and insightful' \u003cb\u003eALAN DAVIES\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Propulsive . . . brilliantly vivid . . . stays in the mind long after reading' \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eIRISH TIMES\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A beautifully written and psychologically incisive bildungsroman...the arrival of a young writer to watch' \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eOBSERVER\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43205073895602,"sku":"9781784165055","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781784165055.jpg?v=1786026152"},{"product_id":"9781035015054","title":"ISDAL","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the PEN Heaney Prize\u003cbr\u003eShortlisted for the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize\u003cbr\u003eA \u003ci\u003eGuardian \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eIrish Times Book \u003c\/i\u003eof 2023\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe much-anticipated debut poetry collection from acclaimed novelist Susannah Dickey, on the subject of our cultural obsession with true crime.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eISDAL\u003c\/i\u003e is a timely interrogation of the true crime genre. In the first of its three parts, we follow the flirty co-presenters of a podcast about the mystery of 'Isdal Woman', whose burnt remains were discovered in Norway in 1970 and who has never been identified.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt the centre of the book is an inquiry into our perennial obsession with female victims, sexiness, and death: ‘The death in question has already occurred’, the poet observes, ‘has occurred to someone sufficiently abstract as to allow us to romp gainfully, guilelessly, guiltlessly through a simulacrum of death’s corridors’.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe free verse poems in the final section both explore and – perhaps inevitably – enact the ethical ambiguities of the genre. Witty, excoriating, formally ingenious, \u003ci\u003eISDAL \u003c\/i\u003emarks the arrival of a thrilling talent in contemporary poetry.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56296149680501,"sku":"9781035015054","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781035015054_10dbf9df-c305-4041-8452-7783809f773d.jpg?v=1786017243"},{"product_id":"9781526691712","title":"into the wreck","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'O\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ene of the best novels I’ve read this year from an unusually gifted writer' \u003ci\u003eIRISH TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e wonderfully stylish writer with an unwavering eye' JOHN PATRICK McHUGH\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Perfectly calibrated . . . These characters spike off the page' A. K. BLAKEMORE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow do you mourn someone you never really knew?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Three siblings  – Anna, Gemma and Matthew – will have to work that out quickly. Monday is the day of their gentle, but distant, father’s funeral, and for the first time in a long while they are under one roof with their mother, imperious Yvonne, awaiting the arrival of their aunt Amy, an award-winning poet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Yet, as the funeral looms, their everyday concerns refuse to diminish: will newly sex-obsessed Gemma work out what she wants from life, beyond her mother’s expectations? Can Anna maintain the fine balance between desire and nonchalance with her not-quite-exclusive boyfriend back in London? Will Amy’s past explode the relationships of the present? And, crucially, will Yvonne pull off her grand, post-funeral family dinner, the solution to what she fears may be an unsolvable problem?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Told from five perspectives, \u003ci\u003einto the wreck\u003c\/i\u003e worries at the knotty complexities of one family’s bonds, written with Susannah Dickey’s trademark empathy and wit.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A rare talent, and certainly one to watch' \u003ci\u003eSUNDAY TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'One of literature's major new talents' \u003ci\u003eOBSERVER\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'O\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ene of the funniest and most insightful novelists writing today' NELL FRIZZELL\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":56368987472245,"sku":"9781526691712","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57682890654069,"sku":"9781526692108","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781526691712_3f3a30fa-eb1e-4460-b46a-a63ca5e2272d.jpg?v=1792511706"},{"product_id":"language-animal","title":"Language Animal","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe second poetry collection from acclaimed poet Susannah Dickey, winner of the PEN Heaney Prize.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow do we communicate the hopefulness of new love in a dying world?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA young woman, dining alone in a Paris bistro while awaiting the arrival of her lover – confronts her dish of calf’s head with winter berries and wonders, where is the neck? Where, these poems go on to ask, is the profound disconnect that has led us to our current state, apparent custodians of a world we have destroyed and of other lives we have subjugated and extinguished.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eLanguage Animal, \u003c\/i\u003ethe speaker attempts to narrate her experiences of a moribund planet alongside the intoxicating and solipsistic bliss of romantic feeling. In poems that traverse three different European spaces – Paris, the Greek island of Hydra, and Prague – and confront three different instances of non-human disenfranchisement – a calf’s head on a menu, crab meat linguine, a dead horse statue – the poet scrabbles for a different way of thinking that might permit, or change, her two, seemingly paradoxical ideas: that we, as a species, are not so special, and that she, as a lover, is.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'It’s not often that you will read a book of poetry that will have you gasping in horror one minute, smiling ruefully the next.' - \u003ci\u003eBelfast Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57502180475253,"sku":"9781037423321","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781037423321.jpg?v=1790001055"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-susannah-dickey.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}