Tiny Bit Marvellous, A French Dawn

Dawn French's debut novel follows the Battles — a middle-class family unravelling in spectacular fashion. There's Mo, the therapist mother who can't fix her own life; her husband, who's vanished into his shed; their teenage daughter Dora, armed with razor-sharp wit and a blog; and son Oscar, navigating the minefield of adolescence. Each chapter switches perspective, giving us three unreliable narrators spinning their version of family chaos. French writes domestic dysfunction with the warmth and bite you'd expect from a comedian who understands that the funniest moments are usually the most painful. It's messy, honest, and surprisingly tender — a portrait of a family that's falling apart but might just manage to catch each other. For anyone who's ever loved their family and wanted to throttle them simultaneously, or fans of Marian Keyes and Jojo Moyes when they're feeling sharp.