Join our newsletter for 10% off at the Penguin Shop

Lonely Mouth

byJacqueline Maley, Hannah Fredericksen (Read by)
Sink your teeth into a slice of family drama with this deliciously funny novel about sisterhood, secrets and the things you can't stomach.

Matilda knows about hunger. She works in one of Sydney's buzziest restaurants, Bocca, while suppressing her cravings, including for her celebrity chef boss, Colson. Everything in her life is tightly controlled: she allows herself one weekend a month to feast and purge, the rest of the time, she stays perfect.

That is, until her younger half-sister Lara crashes back into town, stirring up the family’s chaotic past and bringing long-buried family secrets to the surface. As the pressure rises in the kitchen and at home, Matilda’s carefully compartmentalised life begins to unravel.

A deliciously moreish book club novel about food, appetite, body image, family dysfunction and desire – perfect for readers looking for a smart summer holiday read.

‘Witty, savage and poignant’ NIGELLA LAWSON
'Humane and deeply, darkly humorous' MARINA KEMP, author of UNWILDING
'Gorgeous, mesmerising' CLAIRE POWELL, author of ALL IN

© Jacqueline Maley 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

A song of abandonment, ghastly mothers, dysfunctional families, sisterhood and loss... Witty, savage and poignant

NIGELLA LAWSON

About Jacqueline Maley

Jacqueline Maley is a columnist and senior writer for the Sydney Morning Herald and Age newspapers. She has also worked on staff at The Guardian in London and at The Australian Financial Review. In 2020 she won a Walkley Award for Journalism and in 2016 she won the Kennedy Award for Outstanding Columnist. Her previous novel, The Truth About Her, was an Australian bestseller and was shortlisted for 2022 ABIA (Australian Book Industry Awards) Literary Fiction Book of the Year and the ABIA Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year. She lives in Sydney.
Learn more
Details
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • ISBN: 9781529997811
  • Length: 612 minutes
  • Price: £14.00
All editions