Synopsis
From the Women’s Prize-shortlisted author of First Love
‘I love this book’ – Sarah Perry, award-winning author of The Essex Serpent
‘Outstandingly brilliant’ – Claire-Louise Bennett, award-winning author of Pond
'I hope to see it on the Booker shortlist' -The Times
'Startling . . . A quiet miracle' - The Guardian
Laura Miller and Edmund 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. But as Putnam starts to sink into despondency, she must try to bring him back.
A novel of enduring friendships and small mercies, The Palm House offers us Gwendoline Riley’s trademark keen observation and wit, and leaves us - somehow - with a curious sense of possibility.
Named ‘A Most Anticipated Book for 2026’ by: The Financial Times, The Times, Observer, Guardian, Telegraph, The Sunday Times, New Statesman, Good Housekeeping, Country & Town House, Shortlist, New York Times, Irish Times, Vulture, LitHub and BBC Culture
Details
02 April 2026
9781035021079Reviews
The Palm House might be my favourite novel of 2026 so far . . . It’s very funny and so full of pathos and horror . . . I wanted to go back to the beginning and start again
This pristine book confirms Riley's position among the finest novelists working today. Her sentences are crystalline and perfect, and her attention to the world is always acute and occasionally tender - I love this book, and am awed by Riley's accomplishment
Riley writes with a poet’s control, her prose so purely distilled that it appears artless . . . What is new is the gentle delicacy she brings to the deep and unshowy solace of friendship, moments of tenderness so exquisitely and exactly rendered that they are almost too intense to bear
This goes straight onto my list of favourite modern novels
