You laughed with Queenie. You cringed with Bridget Jones. You fell in love with Dolly Alderton.
Now prepare to meet . . . SONDI MWANSA.

The gloriously funny and heart-wrenching coming-of-age debut novel by an exciting new voice in fiction.

Trying to hold it together. Failing spectacularly.

After “accidentally” stealing a handsome stranger’s phone on a bus in Brixton to mastermind a meet-cute, Sondi Mwansa is forced to face the facts: She is too smart to be this romantically inept. And so begins her boy sober era.

As any self-respecting woman her age would do, Sondi gets a therapist, starts Pilates and locks in for an overdue promotion at her corporate job. She also plans to be a better friend – and will try not to get in the way of other people’s bad decisions. Even if it means biting her tongue when Ayo rekindles things with a terrible ex, Mukuka insists on underwhelming wedding invitations and Isobel is, well, being Isobel.

Nothing can derail her. Not even Andre, the unbelievably sexy new joiner on her team will break her resolve.

But the trouble with running away from your problems – and towards other people’s – is that, sooner or later, they catch up with you. And if Sondi keeps falling apart in silence, the life she’s fought so hard to control could come undone.

© Lauryn Mwale 2027 (P) Penguin Audio 2027