Author Orlaine McDonald reads from and discusses her debut novel, No Small Thing

Alone among the lush tangle of plants on his balcony, Earl watches as a broken family reunites in the flat below.

There's Livia, who has been running for long enough to think her past might never catch up with her. Now she's forced to catch her breath and face the daughter she left behind.

Then Mickey, angry about having a mother who left, a father who died, about the mess she's made of her own life. With no other place to go, she needs the mother who abandoned her.

And Summer, whose new grandmother is weird, and whose mum is always sad or out looking for men to distract her. Left to roam, she finds friends who are willing to give her the attention that Mickey won't. But are they as kind as she thinks they are?

This is a novel about the power and pain of mothering. It crackles with desire, burns with hope and sings in a voice as compelling as it is true.

Orlaine McDonald is a writer of mixed Jamaican and Irish heritage, and lives in London. No Small Thing is Orlaine’s first novel, and has been featured as an ‘Editor’s Choice’ in the Bookseller’s July fiction previews, and was featured in the New Statesman’s ‘Fiction to Read in 2024’ list.

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