**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?
Industry Reviews
It's beautifully written -- Victoria Hislop * Good Housekeeping *
A very smart, soulful, compelling, elegantly written domestic novel -- Nick Hornby * Observer *
Francesca Segal is incisive on modern lives, penetrating and thoughtful - and yet always joyfully entertaining and stylishly readable. * Naomi Alderman *
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 -- Kate Saunders * The Times *
Elegant... an entertaining look at the messy business of trying to be in a family in emotionally trying circumstances... Irresistible -- Eithne Farry * Mail on Sunday *
A story that is equal parts hilarious and devastating * Vogue *
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. * Emma Straub *
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 * The Sunday Times *
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 -- Lucy Scholes * Independent *
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 -- Zoe Apostolides * Financial Times *
