A best book of the year for the Guardian, Economist and Daily Express
An Observer debut of the year
‘Gently comic, bittersweet’
GUARDIAN, The best fiction of 2024
‘A poignant and generous story’
TESSA HADLEY, DAILY EXPRESS
‘In an unsentimental evocation of fatherhood and male friendship, this novel explores the glory and sacrifice involved in learning to love’
ECONOMIST, Best books of 2024
‘Meltingly warm’
OBSERVER, 10 best new novelists for 2024
‘Pepped up and gorgeous, just bristling with life’
OLIVIA LAING, GUARDIAN
‘A different kind of love story, beautifully told . . . impressive’
FINANCIAL TIMES
‘A beautiful, funny tale of London and lives new and old’
SUNDAY TIMES
‘It has charm to burn’
OBSERVER
‘Very funny in places and deeply poignant in others – I loved it . . . word-perfect’
INDIA KNIGHT
‘Remarkable’
LITERARY REVIEW
‘A spirit-lifting debut’
DAVID MITCHELL, author of Cloud Atlas
‘Poignant yet very funny . . . Tom Lamont writes in clear, swift prose about the power struggles that exist in even the most loving of families and the longest of friendships. A lyrical, hypnotic delight’
KATHERINE HEINY, author of Games and Rituals
‘I adored every moment. The characters have stayed with me ever since’
BELLA MACKIE, author of How To Kill Your Family
Local boy Téo Erskine is back in the north London suburb of his youth, visiting his father – stubborn, selfish, complicated Vic. Things have changed for Téo: he’s got a steady job, a brand-new car and a London flat all concrete and glass, with a sliver of a river view.
Except, underneath the surface, not much has changed at all. He’s still the boy seeking his father’s approval; the young man playing late-night poker with his best friend, unreliable, infuriating Ben Mossam; the one still desperately in love with the enigmatic Lia Woods.
Lia’s life, on the other hand, has been transformed: now a single mum to two-year-old Joel, she doesn’t have time for anyone – not even herself.
When the unthinkable happens, Joel finds himself at the centre of an odd constellation of men – Téo, Vic, Ben – none of whom is fully equipped to look after him, but whose strange, tentative attempts at love might just be enough to offer him a new place to call home.
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Reviews
I will never forget these characters: so pained and funny, so brilliantly drawn, wrestled with and forgiven
A remarkably assured, moving, melancholy and funny debut
A poignant yet very funny novel about three men taking turns at shouldering responsibility and shrugging it off, at worrying and causing worry, at giving care and needing it. Tom Lamont writes in clear, swift prose about the power struggles that exist in even the most loving of families and the longest of friendships. A lyrical, hypnotic delight
A meltingly warm comedy centred on two old school pals recently turned 30 . . . While the testy male bonds at the book's heart supply plenty of laughter, the book owes its generous humour not to gags, but tone, which gives it an equally light hand with any number of unfunny subjects
Bittersweet, funny and moving, Going Home is all this but also has a bright ring of truth which chimes on every page
A debut which skilfully and tenderly explores male relationships, belonging and what we leave behind. I adored every moment. The characters have stayed with me ever since
I enjoyed this sharp, tender novel of love and loss set in a scrupulously observed London suburb. From tragic beginnings it builds a slow fire of hope as its characters learn new ways to live and care for each other
Explores parenthood, responsibility, freedom and faith . . . Immersive and finely observed
Deftly written, Going Home is one of the best debuts I've read in a long time. Joel and Téo crept into my heart and I did not want to let them go. Lamont's impressive skill as a writer spills out of every page
A beautiful, funny tale of London and lives new and old
A spirit-lifting debut novel of friendship, fatherhood, growth and forgiveness. A bluff song of praise to north London, peopled by engaging, fallible characters, and rich in glinting turns of phrase
Lamont mixes poignancy . . . with humour, capturing well the cadences of a toddler . . . Lamont conveys a strong sense of place . . . his characters, to me, felt intensely real
A bittersweet and moving debut that beautifully explores male friendship and what it means to be a father
An affecting debut about fatherhood and male friendship
I've read Going Home twice now and I still don't feel as if I've tapped its power. Children seem to be more alive than adults, keener, less jaded, and this novel feels the same, pepped up and gorgeous, just bristling with life
Charm is an underrated quality in fiction . . . It comes from an alchemical blend of elements including narrative voice and character, and Tom Lamont's debut novel, Going Home, set in the Jewish community in Enfield, north London, has charm to burn . . . a book that succeeds so strongly through its charm and its heart
In this touching exploration of male relationships, Lamont paints London as it is . . . The characters' flaws add vivacity and realism to the narrative, as well as providing constant ups and downs. From the imperfections of life, Lamont has fashioned a poignant work of fiction
Touching . . . well-drawn characters, believable dialogue and nuanced emotions cast new light on life in this bittersweet book
There's a lot of fun to be had in this excellent debut centred on friendships, filial bonds and the demands of childcare
At the centre of Lamont's book are the breathless, torrential outpourings of a child whose magnetism pulls all the adults around him together. In capturing the gradual and thorny journey of Joel and Téo towards becoming father and son, almost despite themselves, Lamont does something remarkable
A tender, original, finely paced debut . . . Lamont captures the familiarity and claustrophobia of suburban London and the feeling that nothing and everything has changed
Vividly rendered . . . with emphasis on character and its warm, witty dialogue, Going Home is splendidly old fashioned but also strikingly modern in its themes and set-ups, especially its broader exploration of home and family
A journey into rarely explored territory
Very funny in places and deeply poignant in others - I loved it . . . word-perfect
A spirited, shrewd debut
What most impresses about Going Home is the brilliant portrait of Joel . . . this is a 'sharp', refreshing debut
Delightfully idiosyncratic . . . a genuinely heart-warming story. Lamont's deft blending of humour and pathos marks him down as a writer to watch
A different kind of love story, beautifully told . . . An obvious parallel might be the work of Jon McGregor . . . [it] restored my faith in wholesome novelistic pleasures that work well in good hands but have failed to excite me in recent novels. Several point-of-view narrators are inhabited dutifully, and equally; there's a concentrated locality, many corners of which are shown love and illuminated; a culture; a strong social element, played without manipulative cynicism. There are rolling banks of nice sentences and dialogue that sounds like real speech without sacrificing shape or dynamism. Going Home has the lot. It's been a while since I've read a piece of straightforward British realism and been this impressed.
This is the literary version of your favourite returning family drama . . . Going Home might feature one of the greatest iterations of the quintessentially British "forever-a-lad" archetype . . . I know so many guys like Benjamin Mossam, indeed most of my dearest friends remind me of him, but never found a novel that portrayed them quite the same way, definitely not so fondly and with such texture and complexity
Lamont's debut is shrewd, heartfelt and witty, and his cast of Londoners feel intensely real
I loved this story and these people. I see them wherever I go. I couldn't wait to walk through those streets alongside those characters again. London itself is a wonderful backdrop - as vivid, complicated and brutal as the character's lives. There are big themes - family, fatherhood, friendship, loss and love - but they're all handled sympathetically, truthfully and with great humour. There's such generosity to Tom Lamont's writing, a rare and treasurable thing
Well-drawn characters, believable dialogue and nuanced emotions cast new light on love in this bittersweet book
A great premise, a great story, but most of all, great characters
Three men become responsible for a motherless toddler. In an unsentimental evocation of fatherhood and male friendship, this novel explores the glory and sacrifice involved in learning to love
Gently comic, bittersweet
Someone put Tom Lamont's Going Home in my hand the other day and I was soon involved in his lovely, exact sentences and perceptions, building a poignant and generous story about some men looking after a baby