Synopses & Reviews
Clever Girl is an indelible story of one womans life, unfolded in a series of beautifully sculpted episodes that illuminate an era, moving from the 1960s to today, from one of Britains leading literary lights—Tessa Hadley—the author of the
New York Times Notable Books
Married Love and
The London Train.
Like Alice Munro and Colm Tóibin, Tessa Hadley brilliantly captures the beauty, innocence, and irony of ordinary lives—an ability to transform the mundane into the sublime that elevates domestic fiction to literary art.
Written with the celebrated precision, intensity, and complexity that have marked her previous works, Clever Girl is a powerful exploration of family relationships and class in modern life, witnessed through the experiences of an English woman named Stella. Unfolding in a series of snapshots, Tessa Hadleys moving novel follows Stella from the shallows of childhood, growing up with a single mother in a Bristol bedsit in the 1960s, into the murky waters of middle age.
Clever Girl is a story vivid in its immediacy and rich in drama—violent deaths, failed affairs, broken dreams, missed chances. Yet it is Hadleys observations of everyday life, her keen skill at capturing the ways men and women think and feel and relate to one another, that dazzles.
Review
“Subtle....A story that doesnt overreach, about a character who feels real, told in prose that isnt ornate yet is startlingly exact. The effect is a fine and well-chosen pileup of experiences that gather meaning and power….Stella may not stand out, but Tessa Hadley certainly does.” Meg Wolitzer, New York Times Book Review
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“Irresistibly charming.” Vogue
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“Hadleys prose is both precise and imaginative….Her genteel style belies the many pointed insights she has to offer about female ambition and desire.” John Williams, New York Times
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“Involving…. Intrigues and engages…. The smooth narrative echoes Hadleys cool and precise prose.... Theres plenty of family drama (including murder) but Hadleys strength is in describing what is often left unnoticed.” Financial Times (London)
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“Ultimately, this is a beautiful and precisely drawn portrait of an everywoman, both extraordinary and ordinary.” Melanie Cremins, Minneapolis Star Tribune
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“One womans story comes to exemplify a whole era in this marvelous novel. Tessa Hadley writes with a poets attentiveness to language, and finds the profound and wondrous in the seemingly quietest of lives.” Ron Rash, author of Serena
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“With Clever Girl, Tessa Hadley examines the blunt force of young adulthood. She deftly portrays this short stretch of time in which we make many of the most important decisions of our lives, all while driving under the influence of ignorance and inchoate sexuality.” < b=""> Carol Anshaw, author of < i=""> Carry the One <> <>
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“Looking for the next Kate Atkinson or Alice Munro? Pick up this lovely novel about a smart Englishwoman whos also prickly and prone to misfortune.” < b=""> < i=""> People <> <>
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“Hadleys voluptuous language gives every little thing an immediacy….Like Joyce at his most coherent and exuberant, each of Hadleys sentences bristles with life, and every moment has significance.” < b=""> Katie Haegele, < i=""> Philadelphia Inquirer <> <>
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“A rich, absorbing novel.” < b=""> Anne Landsman, < i=""> Vanity Fair <> <>
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“Quietly brilliant….Hadley has always been adept at drawing out the unrecognisable from the everyday….Domestic fiction is often disparaged as less than serious, but Hadley demonstrates admirably that the genre can carry weight.” < b=""> < i=""> Sunday Times, <> <> London
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“Lives which are unsophisticated yet experienced intensely, and gorgeously erudite prose are the distinguishing features of Tessa Hadleys writing.” < b=""> < i=""> Daily Telegraph <> <> , London
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“Like Munro, Hadley is a writer both exact and lyrical, and there are many pleasures to be found along the way, particularly her sensual descriptions of nature, adolescence, and maternity.” < b=""> < i=""> The Guardian <> <> , London
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“Compelling….For all Stellas spikiness and grittiness, there is a sensuousness to Hadleys writing which revels in richly prolix descriptions of sights and states of mind….Hadley has a genius for pithy analysis….The result consistently rings true despite its very literary artistry.” < b=""> < i=""> The Times <> <> , London
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“Tessa Hadley is a clever writer who likes to play with form. Like Amish quilts, her novels are made up of homespun, domestic material, delicately worked over. Then you step back and see the bold structural decisions behind their composition” < b=""> < i=""> New Statesman <> <> , London
Review
“Its this very ordinariness that makes Hadleys book so captivating. Clever Girl is one of those glorious novels about nothing in particular and everything there is in life, all at the same time.” < b=""> < i=""> The National <> <> , London
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“This is Hadleys extraordinary skill as a novelist: to navigate and narrate the fleeting moments in an individuals life when the future crystallises, by choice and circumstance, for good or for bad....Clever Girl is a remarkable novel by one of this countrys finest, if most unassuming talents.” < b=""> < i=""> Literary Review <> <> , London
Review
“Accomplished, elegant....This novel is the life story of an ordinary, middle-aged woman-Stella. Only that she is not ordinary because Tessa Hadley is writing her into existence and is behind her like a following wind….Hadley writes as a masterly illustrator might draw.” < b=""> < i=""> The Observer <> <> , London
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“Hadley remains so fixed in Stellas viewpoint that whatever this stubborn, lonely, eloquent character has to tell us, we accept....Subtle, intelligent, and realistic storytelling.” < b=""> < i=""> Evening Standard <> <> , London
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“An intimate, engrossing and eminently English coming of middle-age story from one of Britains finest writers….The narrative is episodic and deeply personal, but slowly coalesces to form a mosaic of British life over the past 50 years.” < b=""> < i=""> The Independent <> <> , London
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“Tessa Hadley is wonderful at surprising us with the domestic dramas that stir the embers of everyday life….Her reminiscences can resemble little bombs….Hadley can make even English weather seem enthralling.” < b=""> < i=""> Toronto Star <> <>
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“Told in a series of perfectly observed moments, Clever Girl is not about what you want your life to be, but what you do with what life hands you….An elegant, accomplished novel.” < b=""> Lauren Bufferd, < i=""> BookPage <> <>
Review
“The simplicity of its story is one of this novels great strengths: the uncluttered plot allows for Stellas pains, humiliations, and instances of self-discovery to be confidently inhabited and rendered with emotional precision….This carefully wrought novel transcends mere character study.” < b=""> Sinéad O'Shea, < i=""> Publishers Weekly <> (starred review) <>
Review
“Hadley displays the keen insight and masterful portrayal of the domestic life for which she has become known.” < b=""> Michele Leber, < i=""> Booklist <> <>
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“A uniquely gifted writer, Hadley, never vague, possesses a narrative voice that moves the characters through their phases with parenthetic irony. Like an artist dabbing in precise luminous details, she has a masterly grasp of pivotal moments and renders them with brilliant economy.” < b=""> Joyce Townsend, < i=""> Library Journal <> (starred review) <>
Review
“Like Alice McDermotts Someone, its the story of an ordinary womans life, so closely observed it becomes sublime…..Its Hadleys brilliance to show how the jarring desires, the pieces that dont fit together, nonetheless make a full life.” < b=""> Tricia Springstubb < i=""> Cleveland Plain Dealer <> <>
Review
“Tessa Hadley gives us everyday people, and makes their lives seem like works of art. Here, in her latest, we follow Stella through life, where Hadley gets all of her failings and little triumphs to shine like prized gems.” < b=""> Jason Diamond, < i=""> Flavorwire <> <>
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“Hadleys prose is delightful to read.” < b=""> Adela Kim, < i=""> Harvard Crimson <> <>
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“Hadley achieves a good balance between subtlety and romance, the domestic and the sensational. Though each chapter could stand alone...they add up to a complete, nuanced portrait of a woman who feels as knowable and real as a fictional character can.” < b=""> Christine Pivovar, < i=""> Kansas City Star <> <>
Review
“Masterful, understated….Clever Girl, like the fiction of V.S. Pritchett or Alice McDermott, is devoted to capturing personality through small actions and expressions, to sparking characters into a vivid flame with a few exact descriptions and to distilling domestic settings into precious, even exalted significance.” < b=""> Sam Sacks, < i=""> Wall Street Journal <> <>
Synopsis
An indelible story of one woman's life, revealed in a series of beautifully sculpted episodes that illuminate an era, moving from the 1960s to today, from one of Britain's leading literary lights--Tessa Hadley.
"Clever Girl is...what could be called a 'sensibility' novel--a story that doesn't overreach, about a character who feels real, told in prose that isn't ornate yet is startlingly exact. The effect is a fine and well-chosen pileup of experiences that gather meaning and power."--Meg Wolitzer, New York Times Book Review
Clever Girl is a powerful exploration of family relationships and class in modern life, witnessed through the experiences of an Englishwoman named Stella. Unfolding in a series of snapshots, Tessa Hadley's involving and moving novel follows Stella from childhood, growing up with her single mother in a Bristol bedsit, into the murky waters of middle age. It is a story vivid in its immediacy and rich in drama--violent deaths, failed affairs, broken dreams, missed chances.
Yet it is Hadley's observations of everyday life, her keen skill at capturing the ways men and women think and feel and relate to one another that elevate this tale into "a beautiful and precisely drawn portrait of an everywoman, both extraordinary and ordinary" (Minneapolis Star Tribune).
--
Daily Telegraph, London
Synopsis
Clever Girl is a powerful exploration of family relationships and class in modern life, witnessed through the experiences of an Englishwoman named Stella. Unfolding in a series of snapshots, Tessa Hadley's involving and moving novel follows Stella from childhood, growing up with her single mother in a Bristol bedsit, into the murky waters of middle age. It is a story vivid in its immediacy and rich in drama—violent deaths, failed affairs, broken dreams, missed chances. Yet it is Hadley's observations of everyday life, her keen skill at capturing the ways men and women think and feel and relate to one another that elevate this tale into "a beautiful and precisely drawn portrait of an everywoman, both extraordinary and ordinary" (Minneapolis Star Tribune).
About the Author
Tessa Hadley is the author of four highly praised novels: Accidents in the Home, which was long-listed for the Guardian First Book Award, Everything Will Be All Right, The Master Bedroom, and The London Train, which was a New York Times Notable Book. She is also the author of two short-story collections, Sunstroke and Married Love, both of which were New York Times Notable Books as well. Her stories appear regularly in The New Yorker. She lives in London.