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‘Meltingly warm’
OBSERVER, 10 BEST NEW NOVELISTS FOR 2024
‘Poignant yet very funny… Tom Lamont writes in clear, swift prose about the power struggles that exist in even the most loving of families and the longest of friendships. A lyrical, hypnotic delight’
KATHERINE HEINY, author of Games and Rituals
‘I will never forget these characters: so pained and funny, so brilliantly drawn, wrestled with and forgiven’
HELEN GARNER, author of The Children’s Bach
‘I adored every moment. The characters have stayed with me ever since’
BELLA MACKIE, author of How To Kill Your Family
‘It has a bright ring of truth which chimes on every page’
CLAIRE FULLER, author of Unsettled Ground
‘Explores parenthood, responsibility, freedom and faith… Immersive and finely observed’
THE BOOKSELLER, Editor’s Choice
Local boy Téo Erskine is back in the north London suburb of his youth, visiting his father – stubborn, selfish, complicated Vic. Things have changed for Téo: he’s got a steady job, a brand-new car and a London flat all concrete and glass, with a sliver of a river view.
Except, underneath the surface, not much has changed at all. He’s still the boy seeking his father’s approval; the young man playing late-night poker with his best friend, unreliable, infuriating Ben Mossam; the one still desperately in love with the enigmatic Lia Woods.
Lia’s life, on the other hand, has been transformed: now a single mum to two-year-old Joel, she doesn’t have time for anyone – not even herself.
When the unthinkable happens, Joel finds himself at the centre of an odd constellation of men – Téo, Vic, Ben – none of whom is fully equipped to look after him, but whose strange, tentative attempts at love might just be enough to offer him a new place to call home.
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Reviews
I will never forget these characters: so pained and funny, so brilliantly drawn, wrestled with and forgiven
A remarkably assured, moving, melancholy and funny debut
A poignant yet very funny novel about three men taking turns at shouldering responsibility and shrugging it off, at worrying and causing worry, at giving care and needing it. Tom Lamont writes in clear, swift prose about the power struggles that exist in even the most loving of families and the longest of friendships. A lyrical, hypnotic delight
A meltingly warm comedy centred on two old school pals recently turned 30 . . . While the testy male bonds at the book's heart supply plenty of laughter, the book owes its generous humour not to gags, but tone, which gives it an equally light hand with any number of unfunny subjects
Bittersweet, funny and moving, Going Home is all this but also has a bright ring of truth which chimes on every page
A debut which skilfully and tenderly explores male relationships, belonging and what we leave behind. I adored every moment. The characters have stayed with me ever since
I enjoyed this sharp, tender novel of love and loss set in a scrupulously observed London suburb. From tragic beginnings it builds a slow fire of hope as its characters learn new ways to live and care for each other
Explores parenthood, responsibility, freedom and faith... Immersive and finely observed.
Deftly written, Going Home is one of the best debuts I've read in a long time. Joel and Téo crept into my heart and I did not want to let them go. Lamont's impressive skill as a writer spills out of every page