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Our Noble Selves
  • Published: 10 October 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529937824
  • Imprint: Doubleday
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $65.00

Our Noble Selves

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
8 Sept 2026
EBook
10 Sept 2026
Audiobook
10 Sept 2026
Hardback
10 Oct 2026
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The compelling new novel from one of Britain's best loved storytellers.

It’s the summer of 1951 and everyone is looking to put the dark days of the war behind them. The government’s solution: The Festival of Britain, a celebration of the country’s creativity, grit and ingenuity.

For foreign correspondent turned war reporter Harry Flynn, it might offer the chance of redemption after a bad war in the Far East and a peace that is proving no easier to negotiate. Having failed to resume his journalistic career, he reluctantly joins an oddball team of misfits, ne’er-do-wells and downright chancers helping to ready the Festival of Britain for launch.

Flynn’s attempts to resume some semblance of a romantic life also founder when one of his dates goes missing and he is deemed to be the last person to have seen her alive. Could he have been in some way responsible for her disappearance?

Little does he realize that the answer to some of his mounting problems may lie in the hands of a precocious, straight-talking thirteen-year-old called Veronica and a rather scruffy terrier who goes by the name of Mrs Betty…

Brilliantly plotted, witty and compelling, Our Noble Selves reaffirms Kate Atkinson’s place as one of the greatest chroniclers of our times.
  • Published: 10 October 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529937824
  • Imprint: Doubleday
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $65.00
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About the author

Kate Atkinson

KATE ATKINSON is one of the world’s foremost novelists. She won the Whitbread Book of the Year prize with her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Life After Life, an acclaimed BBC TV series, won several prizes including the Costa Novel Award, as did A God in Ruins. Two further historical novels – Transcription and Shrines of Gaiety - were also Sunday Times bestsellers. She has published two critically acclaimed collections of short stories: Not the End of the World and Normal Rules Don’t Apply. Her bestselling literary crime novels featuring former detective Jackson Brodie, Case Histories, One Good Turn, When Will There Be Good News? and Started Early, Took My Dog, became a BBC television series starring Jason Isaacs. Jackson Brodie later returned in the novel Big Sky and the most recent, Death at the Sign of the Rook, was a number one bestseller. Kate Atkinson was awarded an MBE in 2011 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. For information about Kate Atkinson’s books, including her Jackson Brodie series, visit www.kateatkinson.co.uk
portrait photo of Kate Atkinson

Also by Kate Atkinson

Case Histories
Death at the Sign of the Rook
Normal Rules Don't Apply
Shrines of Gaiety
Big Sky
Transcription
A God in Ruins
See all

Praise for Our Noble Selves

Quirky wit, vast social canvas and narrative brio. The ‘genre’ question is irrelevant. Kate Atkinson writes in one that is entirely and spectacularly her own.

The Scotsman

In Our Noble Selves, Kate Atkinson proves a tender, wry guide to the eccentricities of British life as revealed in the archives. Atkinson relishes the quirkiness. She can be relied on for cracking dialogue, warm wit and comic brio.

TLS

A winning combination of clever plotting, spry pacing and an endearing cast of characters.

Daily Mail

Dazzling story.

The i paper

Atkinson's 14th novel is full of brilliantly colourful characters, and takes us back to a beautifully evoked period when post-war Britain was contemplating both its past and its future.

Woman & Home