The funny and compassionate new literary novel that turns family dysfunction into an art form. ‘Goes off like a firework . As sincere as it is funny (and it’s very funny)’ Ramona Ausubel, bestselling author of The Last Animal ‘ A voice like no other… will shift the way you see the family and community into something operatic, strange and profound.’ Lena Dunham, award-winning writer, director and creator of comedy-drama Girls The Flynns are not alright. It’s been disastrous since Bud and Catherine opened up their marriage, and none of the Flynns can remember the last time a meal was cooked, a load of laundry done, or a social code abided by. Their daughters spiral in their own chaotic orbits: Abigail, the eldest, is dating a man in his twenties nicknamed War Crime Wes; Louise, the middle child, maintains a secret correspondence with an online terrorist; the brilliant youngest, Harper, is being sent to wilderness reform camp due to her insistence that someone – or something – is monitoring the town’s citizens. Casting a shadow across their lives, and their small coastal town, is Paul Alabaster, a nefarious local billionaire. Rumours of corruption circulate, but no one dares dig too deep. No one except Harper, whose obsession with Alabaster’s machinations sends the family hurtling into a criminal conspiracy – one that may just, finally, bring them closer together. Rippling with humour, warmth and style, Lost Lambs offers a stunning portrait of the perverse pleasures and perils of our most intimate reality: our family. Praise for Lost Lambs: ‘A great, great American novel’ Samantha Hunt, Women’s Prize Shortlisted author of The Seas ‘A dazzling and singular new voice in literary fiction … Loud, hilarious, shocking, and sensitive’ Megan Nolan, award-winning author of Ordinary Human Failings ‘With a big surge of energy, Lost Lambs splits the nucleus of the American family’ Tony Tulathimutte, author of Rejection – National Book Award Finalist ‘Madeline Cash is a humourist in the darkly humanist tradition of George Saunders and Lorrie Moore, of Vonnegut and Twain’ Tim Kreider, author of We Learn Nothing ‘Immersive and propulsive and I never wanted it to end . I can’t remember the last time a novel made me laugh so hard or feel so much tenderness for its characters… I loved it. I devoured it’ Leslie Jamison, author of Splinters