Supper Club

Description

A savagely funny and perceptive coming-of-age debut novel - a battle cry for the #metoo generation. Twenty-nine year old Roberta has spent her whole life hungry - until the day she invents Supper Club. Supper Club is a secret society for hungry women. Women who are sick of bad men and bad sex, of hinted expectations to be thinner, smile more, talk less. So they gather at night to feast and drink and dance, seeking the answer to a simple question- if you feed a starving woman, what will she grow into? This is a story about the hunger that never goes away. It is a story about friendship, food and female rage. Above all, it is about the people who make us who we are - who lead us astray and ultimately save us.

Lara Williams is a writer based in Manchester. Her debut short story collection Treats was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, the Edinburgh First Book Award, the Saboteur Awards and longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize. It is published in the US as A Selfie as Big as the Ritz. Lara Williams has contributed to the Guardian, New Scientist, Times Literary Supplement, Debrief, Vice, Grazia, SomeSuch Stories, and many more.

A radical retake on the notion that women must starve themselves to meet society's demands... Written with total glee and rollocking sense of unlimited possibility, Lara Williams is one to watch * Stylist * Sophisticated, attentive, visceral, sensual.... Following in the footsteps of Elena Ferrante and Sally Rooney, Williams explores the shifting dynamics of female friendships * Times Literary Supplement * Exquisite. Wise and generous, subtle and superbly attentive... The food in this book eats you, imparting a depth of flavour that resurfaces stylishly when you least expect it * The New York Times * Cool and knowing, jam-packed with cultural references, not to mention mouthwatering recipes... Kicks back against the degradations and appetite-shaming strictures of a notionally feminist age * Metro * Supper Club is SO GREAT. Utterly perfect on loneliness, isolation, friendship, love, appetite, body image. It's about millennial women but I'm reading and nodding: 'Whole Mood' Powerful and original, insightful and moving... The voice feels akin to Sally Rooney's: colloquial, precise, at once uneasy about its place in the world and determined to stand up for itself... Williams suggests convincingly that cooking is as rigorous and complex as any art form * Guardian * Like Fight Club but with food... About rebellion and power and all the desires women have suppressed for so, so long * Bustle * Supper Club will speak to parts of you that you didn't know were yearning. A thought-provoking read that will make you hungry for more * Refinery29 * A smart, zeitgeisty, genuinely affecting coming-of-age-tale... Lara Williams is very much a talent in her own right * Daily Mail * For reading while eating in the bath and licking your lips... There's no other book to read this month * Lit Hub * Totally invigorating... With elements of Stephanie Danler's Sweetbitter, Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation and Phoebe Waller Bridge's Fleabag, Supper Club is a succulent, unapologetic celebration of female friendship, female rage, and female appetite * Pure Wow * [A] delicious first novel... Williams writes with warmth, wit, and wisdom, serving up distinctive characters and a delectably unusual story. Supper Club will satisfy your craving for terrific writing and leave you hungry for more from this talented writer * Kirkus (Starred Review) * A darkly funny coming-of-age story like no other... Supper Club is the ravenous read we all need * Read It Forward * A bacchanalian debut novel (that) will leaving you panting and ravenous * New York Magazine * Extremely well done... Williams's enthusiasm for good food is attractive, and she writes with a pleasingly fluent style * Evening Standard * Darkly delicious... A celebration of female power and friendship with wonderful food writing * Sunday Mirror * Engrossing, humorous and candid, this exploration of a woman on the verge of finding herself makes for an enthralling novel * Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW) * An homage to female rage and the bonds of friendship, Supper Club will entice readers like a gourmet feast and leave them just as satisfied * Library Journal * Williams explores the complex relationship many women have with their deepest desires * Time (Summer Reading Highlights) * A bacchanalian homage to women's rage and female friendship You'll want to feast on this book * Cosmopolitan * A love letter to those friends, both retained and lost, who have an irrevocable influence on who we are and how we understand ourselves. It's a powerful interrogation of the current status of women within western societies. But it is also a provocation to demand more, a challenge to hold each other to account, and an enticement to celebrate the vibrancy of women's lives with the raucous abandon they deserve. It's the counter fairy tale: biting the apple brought wisdom and confidence, not a loss of consciousness. No prince necessary * Women's Review of Books * Rebellious and subversive... Williams excels at visceral descriptions of bodies and food alike * Mail on Sunday * A bold and fresh story about food, friendship and feminism...compelling reading. * i * Bold, wild and witty * The Sunday Express * A small utopia celebrating the intoxications of female friendship and standing as a private bulwark against patriarchy * TIME Magazine *