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A Short Road to Longbrook
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  • Published: 5 April 2026
  • ISBN: 9781784746018
  • Imprint: Chatto & Windus
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $55.00

A Short Road to Longbrook

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
3 Mar 2026
EBook
5 Mar 2026
Audiobook
5 Mar 2026
Hardback
5 Apr 2026
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A tender novel of mothers and daughters and the secrets they keep from each other, from the author of mega-bestseller My Policeman

A tender story of mothers, daughters and breaking family patterns, from the author of bestseller My Policeman which became the hit film starring Harry Styles

When Winnie is happy, Lillian is happy, too.

It’s the mid-1960s and Lillian Wells is a clever teenager with a daring pixie cut, tangerine mini-dress and new boyfriend, Jim, who works at the brewery. Even better, he lives across the road, so she’s never far from her bee-hived, high-heeled single mother Winnie, who is prone to attacks of the nerves. But Lillian harbours secret dreams of going to art school in London. When she gets in, how will she tell her mother – and Jim – that she’s leaving Abingdon – and them?

Forty years later, Lillian’s own daughter Rachel is heading off to university, but Lillian is not sure either of them are ready. She sees herself and Winnie in Rachel, who is ambitious and intelligent, but also prone to nervous habits. As Lillian tries to bite her tongue about Rachel’s symptoms, she is reminded of what everyone in Abingdon used to say: It’s a short road to Longbrook… the local institution for the mentally ill. Lillian knows this is all too true, but in a family where secrets run through generations like the rushing waters of the local river, can she bring herself to break the cycle and tell Rachel the truth about her past?

‘Roberts is an exceptionally tender and empathetic writer’ Grazia
  • Published: 5 April 2026
  • ISBN: 9781784746018
  • Imprint: Chatto & Windus
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $55.00
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About the author

Bethan Roberts

Bethan Roberts has published five novels and writes stories and drama for BBC Radio 4. Her books include The Good Plain Cook, which was a Radio 4 Book at Bedtime; My Policeman, the story of a 1950s policeman, his wife, and his male lover (now a major Amazon Original movie starring Harry Styles and Emma Corrin); Mother Island, which received a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered prize; and Graceland, which tells the story of Elvis Presley and his mother, Gladys. She also writes short fiction, for which she has won the Society of Authors' Olive Cook Prize and the RA Pin Drop Award. Bethan has taught Creative Writing at Chichester University and Goldsmiths College, London. She lives in Brighton with her family.
portrait photo of Bethan Roberts

Also by Bethan Roberts

Graceland
Mother Island
My Policeman
See all

Praise for A Short Road to Longbrook

With her usual empathy and understanding, Bethan Roberts brilliantly evokes a time – not so long ago – when mental illness carried real stigma and shame

LYNNE TRUSS, author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves

Profoundly moving and utterly compelling, a heartfelt story that spans generations and deftly weaves between the intimate lives of its characters. There’s a genuine sense of suspense here as secrets unfold, and revelations are made of love, loss and the psychopathology of everyday life. I was hooked from the beginning and absorbed right until the end

JAKE ARNOTT, author of The Long Firm

A tangled tale of maternal inheritance, the ties that bind and the queasy way psychiatry in the mid twentieth century seemed so much about crushing women's independence. A must, not just for the countless fans of My Policeman but for admirers of Tessa Hadley

PATRICK GALE, author of Notes from an Exhibition

A beautifully woven story of mothers and daughters, secrets, mental health and the treatment of women in mental institutions in the past

Nina Pottell, Prima

Roberts vividly captures the claustrophobia and 1960s suburbia in an evocative, compassionate read

Mail on Sunday