Supper Club - Lara Williams

WINNER of the GUARDIAN 'NOT THE BOOKER' PRIZE 2019

BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR - Vogue, TIME, Vulture, Woman and Home, and many more

'Subversive, radical, written with total glee and rollicking sense of unlimited possibility. Williams is one to watch'
Stylist

If you feed a starving woman, what will she grow into?

Twenty-nine year old Roberta has spent her whole life hungry. So she invents Supper Club: a secret society for women sick of bad men and bad sex. Fed up of being told to talk less, take less, be less, they gather after dark to feast and dance through the night. But as their bodies expand, so do their horizons, their desires - and their urge to break the rules.

You look hungry. Join the club.

'Superb... Hilariously funny and deeply moving' Guardian Not the Booker Prize

'Engrossing, ambitious, joyful as well as dark - which is so close to the bone and so necessary. I can't wait to read her next book' Emilie Pine, author of Notes to Self

'Cool and knowing, jam-packed with cultural references, not to mention mouthwatering recipes'
Metro

'Daring, funny, humane, delightful. She's the real thing' Sam Jordison, Guardian

'For reading while eating in the bath and licking your lips. There's no other book to read this month'
Lit Hub

'Darkly delicious. A celebration of female power and friendship'
Sunday Mirror

'Riotous, bold, wild and witty'
Sunday Express

Lara Williams is the author of the short story collection Treats, which was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, the Edinburgh First Book Award and the Saboteur Awards and longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize. Her debut novel Supper Club has been translated into five languages, won the Guardian 'Not the Booker' Prize and was listed as a Book of the Year 2019 by TIME, Vogue and other publications. Lara Williams lives in Manchester and is a contributor to the Guardian, Independent, Times Literary Supplement, Vice, Dazed and others.

A radical retake on the notion that women must starve themselves to meet society's demands... Written with total glee and rollocking sense of unlimited possibility, Lara Williams is one to watch
Stylist

Sophisticated, attentive, visceral, sensual.... Following in the footsteps of Elena Ferrante and Sally Rooney, Williams explores the shifting dynamics of female friendships
Times Literary Supplement

Exquisite. Wise and generous, subtle and superbly attentive... The food in this book eats you, imparting a depth of flavour that resurfaces stylishly when you least expect it
The New York Times

Cool and knowing, jam-packed with cultural references, not to mention mouthwatering recipes... Kicks back against the degradations and appetite-shaming strictures of a notionally feminist age
Metro

Supper Club is SO GREAT. Utterly perfect on loneliness, isolation, friendship, love, appetite, body image. It's about millennial women but I'm reading and nodding: 'Whole Mood'

Powerful and original, insightful and moving... The voice feels akin to Sally Rooney's: colloquial, precise, at once uneasy about its place in the world and determined to stand up for itself... Williams suggests convincingly that cooking is as rigorous and complex as any art form
Guardian

Like Fight Club but with food... About rebellion and power and all the desires women have suppressed for so, so long
Bustle

Supper Club will speak to parts of you that you didn't know were yearning. A thought-provoking read that will make you hungry for more
Refinery29

A smart, zeitgeisty, genuinely affecting coming-of-age-tale... Lara Williams is very much a talent in her own right
Daily Mail

For reading while eating in the bath and licking your lips... There's no other book to read this month
Lit Hub

Totally invigorating... With elements of Stephanie Danler's Sweetbitter, Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation and Phoebe Waller Bridge's Fleabag, Supper Club is a succulent, unapologetic celebration of female friendship, female rage, and female appetite
Pure Wow

[A] delicious first novel... Williams writes with warmth, wit, and wisdom, serving up distinctive characters and a delectably unusual story. Supper Club will satisfy your craving for terrific writing and leave you hungry for more from this talented writer
Kirkus (Starred Review)

A darkly funny coming-of-age story like no other... Supper Club is the ravenous read we all need
Read It Forward

A bacchanalian debut novel (that) will leaving you panting and ravenous
New York Magazine

Extremely well done... Williams's enthusiasm for good food is attractive, and she writes with a pleasingly fluent style
Evening Standard

Darkly delicious... A celebration of female power and friendship with wonderful food writing
Sunday Mirror

Engrossing, humorous and candid, this exploration of a woman on the verge of finding herself makes for an enthralling novel
Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW)

An homage to female rage and the bonds of friendship, Supper Club will entice readers like a gourmet feast and leave them just as satisfied
Library Journal

Williams explores the complex relationship many women have with their deepest desires
Time (Summer Reading Highlights)

A bacchanalian homage to women's rage and female friendship

You'll want to feast on this book
Cosmopolitan