Madeleine Gray

'MADELEINE GRAY IS A DAZZLING WRITER - A HUGE TALENT' GILLIAN ANDERSON At the age of twelve, Nell has accepted that hers will likely be a friendless existence. She's not interested in boys or makeup or competing to see who can eat the least - so fitting in at her all-girls' school feels impossible. But then, a new girl arrives at school. Eve has short hair like a boy's, a wicked sense of humour and an unshakable confidence that she will find her place in the world. And the moment they meet, Nell begins to rethink the whole friendless existence thing. As they grow into themselves, Nell and Eve will love each other and hurt each other - through the chlorine-scented savagery of adolescence; long, drunken nights in share houses and gay bars; the highs and lows of parenthood. And always, despite unspoken feelings and sexual confusion, they will choose each other. Again, and again. As friends, as lovers, as family.

An exuberant and irreverently funny novel about one gorgeously messy friendship-feud-unrequited-love-affair set in Sydney across eighteen years. Nell Argall and Eve Bowman are both brilliant, odd, and friendless. When they meet on the brutal battlefield that is their posh all girls' high school during their first year there, both their lives are changed forever. From school, to university, to careers, Nell and Eve's is a relationship that is a life raft that is also a poison apple that is also a Medusan stare, frozen in time. When the passion, guilt, shame, and joy that perpetually twists and turns between them finally implodes, Nell abruptly walks away, leaving Eve alone at the helm of the gloriously unorthodox family they've built with their seven-year-old daughter, Lake. Eve finds herself left wondering: Can the wounds of adolescent betrayal ever really heal? Can we ever really understand what's going on in someone else's head? And what's love got to do, got to do with it? Written with Gray's characteristic big-heartedness and dark wit, Chosen Family is a queer modern classic that reminds us again and again that sometimes the most fulfilling and life-saving relationships are the ones that are the hardest to define.

'MADELEINE GRAY IS A DAZZLING WRITER - A HUGE TALENT' GILLIAN ANDERSON Nell has accepted, at age twelve, that hers will likely be a friendless existence. She does not care for boys, or makeup, or competing to see who can eat the least - so has no hope of success at tweenage girl social climbing. But then, a new girl arrives at school. Eve has short hair like a boy's, a wicked sense of humour and an unshakable confidence that she will one day find her place in the world. The moment they meet, Nell changes her mind about the friend thing. From their childhood to their twenties and thirties, Eve and Nell will love each other and hurt each other - through teenage feuds and the chlorine-scented savagery of all-girls' schools; through long, drunken nights in scruffy share houses; through the highs and lows of coparenting a child together without being romantically involved. But always, despite a mire of unspoken feelings and sexual confusion, they will choose each other. Again, and again. As friends, as lovers, as family.

'MADELEINE GRAY IS A DAZZLING WRITER - A HUGE TALENT' GILLIAN ANDERSONNell has accepted, at age twelve, that hers will likely be a friendless existence. She does not care for boys, or makeup, or competing to see who can eat the least - so has no hope of success at tweenage girl social climbing. But then, a new girl arrives at school. Eve has short hair like a boy's, a wicked sense of humour and an unshakable confidence that she will one day find her place in the world. The moment they meet, Nell changes her mind about the friend thing. From their childhood to their twenties and thirties, Eve and Nell will love each other and hurt each other - through teenage feuds and the chlorine-scented savagery of all-girls' schools; through long, drunken nights in scruffy share houses; through the highs and lows of coparenting a child together without being romantically involved. But always, despite a mire of unspoken feelings and sexual confusion, they will choose each other. Again, and again. As friends, as lovers, as family.

A BEST BOOK OF 2024 IN STYLIST, DAILY MAIL, THE i PAPER, IRISH TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES AND RED SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 BRITISH BOOK AWARDS DEBUT FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 'ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS YOU WILL READ ALL YEAR' ELIZABETH DAY'BRILLIANT. WHAT A WRITER' NIGELLA LAWSON'INCREDIBLY FUNNY' CAITLIN MORAN'WONDERFUL' GILLIAN ANDERSON'THIS YEAR'S SORROW AND BLISS' DAILY MAILHera is in her mid-twenties, which seems young to everyone except people in their mid-twenties. Since leaving school, she has been trying to kick and scream into existence a life she cares about, but with little success so far. Until she meets Arthur. He works with her, he is older than her, he is also married. But in her soulless office - the large cold room she feels destined to spend her life in - he is a source of much-needed sustenance. And though Hera has previously dated women, she soon falls headlong into a workplace romance that will quickly consume her life. Laugh-out-loud funny, deeply moving and whip smart, Green Dot is a story about the terrible allure of wanting something that promises nothing and the winding, torturous, often hilarious journey we take in deciding who we are and who we want to be.'IF YOU LIKED FLEABAG YOU WILL LOVE GREEN DOT' PANDORA SYKES'YOU'LL TEAR THROUGH THE PAGES' HEAT MAGAZINE'STAGGERINGLY GOOD AND WICKEDLY FUNNY' THE SATURDAY PAPER'THE DEBUT OF THE YEAR' i PAPER

An irresistible and messy love story about the terrible allure of wanting something that promises nothing from debut author Madeleine Gray At twenty-four, Hera is a clump of unmet potential. To her, the future is nothing but an exhausting thought exercise, one depressing hypothetical after another. She's sharp in more ways than one, adrift in her own smug malaise, until her new job moderating the comments section of an online news outlet--a role even more mind-numbing than it sounds--introduces her to Arthur, a middle-aged journalist. Though she's preferred women to men for years now, she soon finds herself falling into an all-consuming affair with him. She is coming apart with want and loving every second of it Well, except for the tiny hiccup that Arthur has a wife--and that she has no idea Hera exists. With its daringly specific and intimate voice, Green Dot is a darkly hilarious and deeply felt examination of the joys and indignities of coming into adulthood against the pitfalls of the twenty-first century and the winding, tortuous, and often very funny journey we take in deciding who we are and who we want to be.

"Madeleine Gray takes a scalpel to millennial malaise, office romance, and infidelity, and the result is a brainy, gutsy, nervy--and hilarious--wonder of a novel." --Meg Howrey, author of They're Going to Love You An irresistible and messy love story about the terrible allure of wanting something that promises nothing At twenty-four, Hera is a clump of unmet potential. To her, the future is nothing but an exhausting thought exercise, one depressing hypothetical after another. She's sharp in more ways than one, adrift in her own smug malaise, until her new job moderating the comments section of an online news outlet--a role even more mind-numbing than it sounds--introduces her to Arthur, a middle-aged journalist. Though she's preferred women to men for years now, she soon finds herself falling into an all-consuming affair with him. She is coming apart with want and loving every second of it Well, except for the tiny hiccup that Arthur has a wife--and that she has no idea Hera exists. With its daringly specific and intimate voice, Green Dot is a darkly hilarious and deeply felt examination of the joys and indignities of coming into adulthood against the pitfalls of the twenty-first century and the winding, tortuous, and often very funny journey we take in deciding who we are and who we want to be.

'Brilliant. Riveting. Sharp. Funny. Dark. I want to give Green Dot all the adjectives but will content myself with saying it is one of the best books you will read all year' Elizabeth Day

Hera is in her mid-twenties, which seems young to everyone except people in their mid-twenties. Since leaving school, she has been trying to kick and scream into existence a life she cares about, but with little success so far. Until she meets Arthur. He works with her, he is older than her, he is also married. But in her soulless office - the large cold room she feels destined to spend her life in - he is a source of much-needed sustenance. And though Hera has previously dated women, she soon falls headlong into a workplace romance that will quickly consume her life. Laugh-out-loud funny, deeply moving and whip smart, Green Dot is a story about the terrible allure of wanting something that promises nothing and the winding, torturous, often hilarious journey we take in deciding who we are and who we want to be.

Christianity, in its Catholic, Protestant and Nonconformist forms, has played an enormous role in the history of Wales and in the defining and shaping of Welsh identity over the past two thousand years. Biblical place names, an urban and rural landscape littered with churches, chapels, crosses and sacred sites, a bardic and literary tradition deeply imbued with Christian themes in both the Welsh and English languages, and the songs sung by tens of thousands of rugby supporters at the national stadium in Cardiff, all hint at a Christian presence that was once universal. Yet for many in contemporary Wales, the story of the development of Christianity in their country remains little known. While the history of Christianity in Wales has been a subject of perennial interest for Welsh historians, much of their work has been highly specialised and not always accessible to a general audience. Standing on the shoulders of some of Wales’s finest historians, this is the first single-volume history of Welsh Christianity from its origins in Roman Britain to the present day. Drawing on the expertise of four leading historians of the Welsh Christian tradition, this volume is specifically designed for the general reader, and those beginning their exploration of Wales’s Christian past.

The Protestant Reformation has been the subject of much recent debate among theologians and church historians. Controversy still rages over the state of the late medieval church, the extent to which the Reformation was driven by theological or political concerns, and the impact which it had on the lives and beliefs of ordinary people. This Student Introduction provides an overview of some of the main themes of religious thinking in this period while giving weight to the multifaceted nature of belief. Particular attention is paid to developments in the practice of worship, and to the impact of the Reformation on ideas of the relationship between the church and secular society. Recent research on the social anthropology of the Reformation is discussed in the context of the extent to which the beliefs and practices of ordinary people were affected by the changing perspectives of theologians and rulers. The present text is written with the modern undergraduate in mind, and is the direct result of teaching experience. This is a market which is not always addressed by existing books, many of which assume a background in Christian thought which few undergraduates now possess. While not for the complete novice, this book assumes very little previous knowledge. Important concepts are explained in simple terms at the outset and glossaries and biographical guides are provided for further reference. Topics include: sin and salvation; sacrament and ritual; authority and interpretation; the theory and organization of the True Church in the Protestant tradition; the Protestant churches and secular authority; literacy, education and the popular response to the Reformation; liturgy and the articulation of belief; popular belief and folk culture.

An interesting and unusual work on a little-explored field of study. By means of the iconographic evidence, the author aims to provide a counterbalance to the traditional studies of medieval welsh piety with their heavy emphasis on poetic material. There are interesting and suggestive divergences between the ideas communicated by literary evidence and those suggested by the surviving visual culture. In considering the importance of visual imagery as evidence for religious beliefs, the part played by imagery in the formation and reinforcement of a distinctive spirituality is not ignored. The work concentrates on surviving images from the 'golden century', but patterns of destruction and preservation are identified, including rare works lost through poverty and neglect.