Creatures of a Brief Season to be published September 2026
Creatures of a Brief Season is a novel about intimacy born of necessity, and what it means to rethink your life when the one you’d imagined hasn’t gone to plan.
Leonard is elderly, overweight, and battling with failing eyesight; the last thing he wants is a stranger moving in. After years spent caring for her mother, Vanessa has been left struggling to find work and Leonard is her only option. As the lives of two very different people intertwine, something unexpected happens: assumptions begin to shift, boundaries between obligation and companionship become less certain, and a friendship is forged.
Written as a dual narrative, the unflinching look at the challenges of old age seen through the eyes of a complex, often cantankerous protagonist, is comparable to Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge; in putting a carer and her attempts to carve out space for herself centre stage as well, the novel is also akin to the international prize winning When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén.
“By turns lyrical and uncompromising, Creatures of a Brief Season is a deeply immersive and compassionate novel told in perfect, pellucid prose.” Jane Johnson
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