Things To Do Indoors

A witty and observant literary novel about two bohemian sisters who fall in love with the same man, set in 1980s West London.

'She writes like an angel and thinks like the devil. Joughin is a major discovery'

'Sheena Joughin has an unusual clarity of voice and a crafty duality, something both brooding and light, in her writing. The hurts and nastinesses between her characters are paralleled with a casual persistence of good nature and good humour in this funny, piercing book about lostness, childishness and growing up'

'Very funny, very edgy, very acute. I love this book'

'[Joughin] is already a mistress of mordant comedy... a talent to watch'

'Joughin has a merciless eye for unflattering detail and for the insecurities of both sexes ... extremely funny'

Sheena Joughin has twice been the winner of the London Short Story Competition, and is a regular contributor to The Times Literary Supplement. She lives in west London with her son.

A wry, spirited look at being glad and young, this foray back into Eighties London explores relations between sisters, mothers, friends and lovers from the vantage point of a girl caught unexpectedly in the middle. 
 
Sisterly sharing is taken beyond the pale when twenty-something Chrissie finds a postcard from her boyfriend to her sister signed, "Kisses, Nick". Within moments she severs her two central relationships and looks boldly forward to the haphazard pleasures of an independent life. 
 
Her lyrical journey, from love-lorn waitress to self-contained mother, takes us through the pubs, parks, parties, patisseries, peeling houseboats and rackety flats of west London to the shores of Lisbon, Ireland and Brighton. But Chrissie's attempts to escape the emotional convolutions of London only ever seem to lead to encounters that intensify rather than dispel her growing sense of how knotty life can be. 
 
Graceful, sensitive, gently humorous, Things to do Indoors captures intimately the bizarre complexity of life for those who yearn to become independent, but can't stop looking for love.

Sheena Joughin

'Many things are left unsaid in Sheena Joughin's Swimming Underwater and the effect is all the more resonant and intriguing...superb control'

A carefully charged novel about insiders, outsiders and the unsayable things and passions in any life....As with her first novel, something comes together here with a kind of grace. When it does, the effect is both philosophical and a pleasure...beautifully underplayed

An admirably muted novel combining graceful description with piquant observation ... a fine second novel from a perceptive author

Don't miss this, a take on the idea that the course of true love never runs smooth

'[Joughin] displays her short-story writing gift for minute observation, starting slowly with the dysfunctional relationship between Ruth and Liam. Joughin's acute sensitivity to language and idiosyncratic behaviour makes this a coolly refreshing read'

Joughin's characters are always tangible. Yet while her dialogue has the ring of authenticity, the inclusion of selected lines from Larkin, Hughes and Yeats ensures an appealing languor

Joughin's second novel confirms her gift for mining tragi-comic gems from outposts of shabby bohemia

Joughin's poetic prose perfectly conveys the delicacy of human emotion, and the frequent disjunction between art and life'

Like a cross between Margaret Drabble and Francoise Sagan

Joughin has an appealing darkness and urgency, as she potently conveys the pleasures and pains of human interactions

Adeptly written and enjoyable... Ruth's childhood perspectives are extremely well captured

Striking story of Ruth and Gray under the spell of famous poets' lives

Reading Joughin's second novel is like immersing yourself in a cool pool at a hazy summer party ...as addictively abrasive as a shot of cold vodka, this wil leave you both refreshed and gasping for stability

This darkly comic story about unpredictable love is perfect if you're looking for some intelligent chicklit

When Ruth and Gray meet as children while their parents play at being adults in a rackety old Bohemian house, an electricity passes between them that neither will ever forget. Their paths soon separate as Gray moves to Paris with his girlfriend, and Ruth finds Liam, a sensible and long-suffering friend with whom she falls in love. But Ruth's eccentric upbringing lingers into adulthood. Affected by her old Aunt Jane's passion for poetry, Ruth embarks on a comprehensive book of Twentieth Century poets' lives. Soon, Ruth's thoughts become haunted by the lives of the poets and dreamers she writes about, as the self-destructive talents of Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost and Philip Larkin begin to influence her in unexpected ways. Until one day, she meets Gray, and their historic chemistry is fired up once again. 
 
Joughin's exquisite sense of place, her comic eye and wry, erotic prose are prime ingredients in this page-turning novel full of vivid characters, elegance and humanity.

Sheena Joughin

Praise for Swimming Underwater

'Many things are left unsaid in Sheena Joughin's Swimming Underwater and the effect is all the more resonant and intriguing...superb control'

A carefully charged novel about insiders, outsiders and the unsayable things and passions in any life....As with her first novel, something comes together here with a kind of grace. When it does, the effect is both ...

An admirably muted novel combining graceful description with piquant observation ... a fine second novel from a perceptive author

'Many things are left unsaid in Sheena Joughin's Swimming Underwater and the effect is all the more resonant and intriguing...superb control'

A carefully charged novel about insiders, outsiders and the unsayable things and passions in any life....As with her first novel, something comes together here with a kind of grace. When it does, the effect is both ...

An admirably muted novel combining graceful description with piquant observation ... a fine second novel from a perceptive author

'Many things are left unsaid in Sheena Joughin's Swimming Underwater and the effect is all the more resonant and intriguing...superb control'

A carefully charged novel about insiders, outsiders and the unsayable things and passions in any life....As with her first novel, something comes together here with a kind of grace. When it does, the effect is both ...

An admirably muted novel combining graceful description with piquant observation ... a fine second novel from a perceptive author

Books by Sheena Joughin

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