The Palm House - Gwendoline Riley

Longlisted For The Booker Prize 2026from The Womens Prize-shortlisted Author Of First Love, The Palm House Is A Sharply Observed, Slyly Funny Novel Of Enduring Friendships And Small Mercies.this Goes Straight Onto My List Of Favourite Modern Novels The Timesone Of Our Finest Novelists Of Constrained Fury: Nobody Writes Better The Observermesmerising. Confirms Riley As One Of Britains Best The Telegrapha Slim, Impeccably Controlled Story That Contains Multitudes The Guardianlaura And Putnam Have Been Friends For A Long Time. Theirs Is A Happy Meeting Of Minds, With Long Evenings Spent Huddled In An Ancient Pub By The Thames, Where They Share Office Gossip, Reflect On Their Teenage Passions, And Lament The State Of The World.recently, Though, Putnam Has Been Harder To Reach: He Has Lost His Father, And The Magazine To Which He Has Dedicated His Life Has Been Hijacked By An Insufferable New Editor, Simon Call Me Shove Halfpenny.laura Has Her Own Problems: With A Prickly Mother And A Tricky Past, And In A Beautiful And Indifferent City, Her Day-to-day Life Is Precarious.