How to Leave the House

A New Yorker Best Book of the Year ΓÇ£It may sound peculiar that a story featuring chapter-length text message exchanges and a hysterical egg fight during a gender reveal party could contain such potent,moving allusions to philosophy and James Joycelet alone be filled with richly observed artistic references reminiscent of Ali Smithbut Newman weaves the analytical and the absurd with a raucous grace. . .ProfoundΓÇöand profoundly sidesplitting.ΓÇ¥ ΓÇöBobby FingerThe New York Times Book Review It’s Natwest’s last day before he leaves for universityand there’s only one thing on his mind: the deeply embarrassing package he ordered to his houseΓÇöwhich still hasn’t arrived. He won’t leave town without it. Any alternative is too distressing to consider. . . This is the story of twenty-four hours in the life of Natwestand his small-town odyssey in pursuit of the missing package. And yet it’s also the story of a middle-aged dentist who dreams of being a respected artistΓÇöbut the only thing he can seem to paint is the human mouth. And it’s the story of a tortured imam involved in a quasi-romantic entanglement with the local vicar; and an octogenerian mourning the death of her secretive husband; and a troubled teenager whose nudes have leaked on the internet. It’s the story of Natwest’s obnoxious ex-boyfriendand his class-traitor mother and her childhood boyfriendand the life-changing secrets he knows about Natwest’s past. Alternating between Natwest’s idiosyncratic inner world and the perspectives of the other charactersΓÇöand dazzling in its energyimagination and originalityΓÇöthis is an outrageously funny and tenderly moving story about being connected to everyone and everything at all times; about lovefriendshipand the lies we tell ourselves; about unhappy endingshappy endingsΓÇöand whether anything really is as simple as one or the other.