Tender, funny and unapologetic, Amazing Grace Adams is the fiercest debut of 2023, about a woman - and a story - you'll never forget


Grace Adams is one bad day away from saving her life.

One hot summer day, stuck in traffic on her way to pick up the cake for her daughter's sixteenth birthday party, Grace Adams snaps.

She doesn't scream or break something or cry. She simply abandons her car and walks away.

But not from her life - towards it. To the daughter who won't live with her anymore and has banned her from the party. To the husband divorcing her. Towards the terrible thing that has blown their family apart . . .

Today she'll show her daughter that no matter how far we fall we can always get back up again. Because Grace Adams was amazing. Her husband and daughter once thought so. They and the world might have forgotten.

But Grace is about to remind them . . .

Review

A tragicomic character that middle-aged women can celebrate . . .It's a tale of giddy love, thwarted ambitions, devastating loss, the dangers of 21st-century adolescence, the horrors of the menopause and how badly language can let us down . . . Littlewood writes with ferocity and compassion about Grace's all-too-believable agonies and the impossibility of spinning all the plates that modern life expects us to manage. Read it and weep (then cheer) ― THE TIMES

Hugely enjoyable. Compelling, funny and poignant. I devoured it -- Paula Hawkins, bestselling author of The Girl on the Train


I just adored this beautiful debut novel! Funny, moving and at times absolutely heart-breaking, it had me captivated until the very last page. An unforgettable read -- Liane Moriarty

Amazing Grace Adams takes readers on a rollercoaster ride of female rage, loss and resilience. A rip-roaring, empowering story of redemption, discovery and starting over. And the more emotional moments are peppered with so much humour, you find yourself laughing and crying at the same sentence. Amazing Grace Adams is a glorious tragicomedy. The characters are wonderfully drawn and you'll applaud Grace for her amazing fortitude, compassion and warmth. Littlewood flips the stereotypes of menopause and middle age into something women can aspire to ― Daily Express

I loved it. Vivid, visceral and incredibly emotional. I laughed and sobbed -- Tim Minchin

Rarely have I felt more seen than by this book ― Good Housekeeping

Readers will relish the letting loose of one woman's long-suppressed righteous rage . . . Spectacular ― Mail on Sunday

Explores motherhood with wit, warmth and wisdom. Extraordinary ― Grazia BOOK CLUB

An exacting and brilliantly structured novel about love, grief, hope lost and then found again. I rooted for Grace from the first sentence -- Mary Beth Keane, New York Times bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes

Women in their 40s everywhere will be wondering 'how did she get into our heads?' Funny and moving ― The Midulthood

Fran Littlewood has written a magnificent novel. Grace Adams is everywoman-filled with promise, trepidatious in love and eventually, a besotted mother. Amazing Grace Adams is a fully realized story of catastrophe and joy, grief and love, and the hidden chambers of the human heart that carry the best and worst of our experience. A stunning debut -- Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Left Undone


From the first hot minute when Grace Adams, stalled in traffic, stuck in her car, simply opens the door and walks away from it all-into her day, the single day that gathers all her days up to this tipping point at the middle, she had me. How Life in the middle of our lives breaks us open-and apart-and then open again. I finished her story on a plane above the country, so full, and in tears. "Ma'am?" my seat-mate asked, "are you ok?" "Oh, yes," I answered. And gave him this book' -- Sarah Blake, New York Times bestselling author of The Postmistress and The Guest Book

A redemptive story of womanhood, motherhood and marriage. You won't forget Grace
I can't remember the last time I read a novel with such unbridled enthusiasm. Amazing Grace Adams is a raw, uproariously hilarious portrait of parenthood, love, and family; it's also a profound examination of the way language can both save us and fail us when we need it the most. I'd walk across London on the hottest day of the year with Fran Littlewood-hell, I'd walk anywhere with her. I'm begging you: read this book -- Grant Ginder, author of The People We Hate at the Wedding

I laughed, I cried ugly tears, I rooted for Grace Adams. It broke my heart then reassembled it - as only a fabulous novel can -- Emily Koch, author of Keep Him Close

An incredible debut. Grace Adams is fighting back and her story is both powerful and heartbreaking. I recommend. -- Julie Owen Moylan, author of That Green Eyed Girl

About the Author

Fran Littlewood has an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London. She was taught by Andrew Motion and passed with distinction. Before that she worked as a journalist, including a stint at The Times. She lives in north London with her husband and their three girls. AMAZING GRACE ADAMS is her debut novel.

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