Big Nobody

This audacious debut novel reminds readers that humour might be the best way to talk about heartbreak. Big Nobody offers us both: it's a hilarious tale of awkward (is there any other kind?) adolescence that is also a moving story of family dysfunction. Don’t worry: there’s trauma, but there’s triumph, too.

Rumaan Alam, author of LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND

BIG NOBODY is hands down the funniest, most original novel I’ve read in ages; it’s also a surprisingly moving story about what it means to strike out on your own in a hostile, bewildering world, told by one of the most memorable new narrators in contemporary fiction. Keep Alex Kadis on your radar - she’s a force to be reckoned with. I am totally, utterly, out-of-my-mind obsessed with this book.

Grant Ginder, author of THE PEOPLE WE HATE AT THE WEDDING

Riotously funny, nostalgic and immensely touching. If this isn’t a hit I will eat my hat.

Pandora Sykes

With BIG NOBODY a big new voice has arrived in fiction. Chock with wit, whimsy and the poignancy of unprocessed pain, this book broke my heart one minute and had me really laughing the next. In Connie, with her resilience and fierce determination to live on her own terms, Alex Kadis has given us a protagonist who will stay with you for a very long time.

Xochitl Gonzalez

Delightfully original . . . both creatively daring and perfectly evocative of the melodramatic emotional shitshow that is adolescence. My Big Fat Greek Coming-of-Age Novel, narrated by one of the great teenage curmudgeons of recent literature

Kirkus

Big Nobody is one of my favourite novels so far this year. ... I love to see a woman in her sixties with a first novel, let alone one this good.

India Knight

It's hard not to root for a heroine who is so touching, a mixture of resilience and hurt, bouncy self-esteem and its crushing opposite. ... A debut that sparkles like Marc Bolan's eye makeup.

Guardian

This original, compelling coming-of-age story is alternately heart-breaking and hilarious - I rooted for Connie from the start.

Daily Mail

A dark coming-of-age story steeped in teenage frustration and era-defining music.

Woman's Own

So, so good - brilliantly funny and absolutely heartbreaking. I can't think of anyone who has channelled the teenage voice as well since Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole

India Knight, Sunday Times

Delightfully original . . . both creatively daring and perfectly evocative of the melodramatic emotional shitshow that is adolescence. My Big Fat Greek Coming-of-Age Novel, narrated by one of the great teenage curmudgeons of recent literature

Kirkus