Cirrus@Austlit

'Cast adrift by loss, Monica Sparrow is marooned in her semi in Neasden, the so-called 'loneliest village in London', her home stuffed with nothing she needs. Is it time for her to finally get her house in order? Can she isolate what really matters, and clear the junk? And while it’s too late for her family to be as they were, can Monica fashion an entirely new one, from the unlikeliest set of contenders?

'Monica’s sister, Diane, already a right piece of work and looking to take it up a notch, seems lost to Monica forever. But a few unexpected diversions see her careering in a most unanticipated direction. Xavier, a master of minimalism, discards people as easily as any other clutter. An editor at a prestigious publishing house, he’s lumbered with Monica - a wannabe writer spectacularly different from any he’s previously encountered.

'Having lived virtually family-free into adulthood, Jamie suddenly acquires Monica and Diane as elder sisters, and a job, a proper one. Used to living on the margins and unfamiliar with group dynamics, this proverbial black sheep might just become the most improbable anchor.

'Four isolated people. Thrown together by family and circumstance. A humorous and heart warming story of second chances and new beginnings.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Ethan Grout realises it's his 27th birthday when he receives a card from the fitness centre he recently quit along with the only job he had ever held. Having moved into a tiny room above a busy city bar, the buzz and lights of downstairs and the street soothing him to sleep, Ethan takes a new job, and another, and even another - collecting a life as he goes. Ethan Grout journeys through life, challenging himself to create his own gang of misfits when being alone just won't do any more.

'This bittersweet novel will strike familiar chords with anyone who has suffered through jobs that resemble glee clubs, cults or blind dates, and who have tried to fit in even when it all just seems too hard.' (From the publisher's website.)