The Adult

Joe Stretch author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Vintage Publishing

Published:1st Aug '13

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Adult cover

Winner of the Somerset Maugham Prize and shortlisted for the Portico Prize - The Adult is a novel of life in the shadow of the limelight, and other twenty-first-century tribulations.

Jim Thorne. He wants to understand love. His mum. Her three sisters have epic perms. And they're famous. His dad. He is focused on a vital question: Mario or Sonic? It's England, 1989-2009. So expect a little history. The dolphin's name is Dilly.

WINNER OF THE SOMERSET MAUGHAM PRIZE

'Funny, sad, bewildering and painfully honest, it’s a must-read for all fans of Joe Dunthorne’s Submarine' Emerald Street

Jim Thorne.
He wants to understand love.
His mum.
Her three sisters have epic perms.
And they’re famous.
His dad.
He is focused on a vital question:
Mario or Sonic?
It’s England, 1989–2009.
So expect a little history.
The dolphin's name is Dilly.

The Adult is a tremendous novel. It takes its place with some of the very best of its genre – the right of passage. Very few people can do it well. Stretch has done it superbly well. I’m not surprised it won the Somerset Maugham Award. I’m sure it will go on to be widely read and cited. I do hope so -- Melvyn Bragg
Very funny, beautifully wrought -- Toby Clements * Daily Telegraph *
A properly bollock-droppingly brilliant novel * Dazed & Confused *
I knew from the first page that this was going to be a very funny book, but I didn't realise it would have so much heart and be so beautiful -- Evie Wyld
So enjoyable... The Adult is closer to a state-of-the-nation novel than any typical bildungsroman * Guardian *

  • Winner of Somerset Maugham Award 2013 (UK)

ISBN: 9780099570288

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 16mm

Weight: 181g

256 pages