Bernard and the Cloth Monkey

Jan 7, 2026 6:36 PM

Author:Judith Bryan,Sara Powell,Bernardine Evaristo,Bernardine Evaristo

Brought to you by Penguin.

WINNER OF THE SAGA PRIZE 1997: a literary award for trailblazing new Black Britishnovelists

A shattering portrayal of family, guilt and unshakable bonds as a family's deepest secrets explosively unravel

When Anita finally returns home to London after a long absence, everything has changed.

Her father is dead, her mother is away, and she and her sister Beth are alone together for the first time in years.

They share a house. They share a family. They share a past.

Tentatively, they reach out to one another for connection, but the house echoes with words unspoken.

Dazzling and heart-breaking, Bernard and the Cloth Monkey is a searing portrait of family, a rebellion against silence and a testament to the human capacity for survival.

'A quietly outstanding work of fiction . . . an exemplary novel' Bernardine Evaristo

Reviews

Bernard and the Cloth Monkey is the story of navigating adulthood with the weight of a marred and difficult childhood still straining familiar relationships . . . An important contribution to the literary landscape

—— Bad Form

[Bernard and the Cloth Monkey] crosses boundaries in what it's prepared to talk about, and it does that without melodrama or sensationalism . . . It's absolutely beautifully written. I was so drawn to the prose, to the rhythms of the prose

—— Jacqueline Roy , Five Books

A quietly outstanding work of fiction . . . an exemplary novel

—— Bernardine Evaristo

Bruce's spooky novel is lascivious and bloody, a tale of sexual awakening and dark desires that wreathes its leafy tendrils seductively around you, then tightens them until they start to strangle.

—— James Lovegrove , FINANCIAL TIMES

Dark and immersive; a feast of storytelling that lingers long after the last morsel's been consumed.

—— SAM LLOYD, author of The Memory Wood

This beguiling and unsettling debut had me hooked from the first page . . . a unique, strange and defiant folk horror story which lingers long in the memory.

—— DAILY EXPRESS

A bewitching, beguiling, and deeply unsettling tale of one woman's strange life. It will ensnare you from page one and keep you riveted until the end.

—— CAITLIN STARLING, author of The Luminous Dead

In this storytelling masterclass, everything is inverted.

—— DAILY MAIL

A glorious, pitch-black fairytale of a book. Lush, strange and defiant. As soon as I finished it, I went straight back to the start and read it again.

—— KIRSTY LOGAN, author of Things We Say in the Dark

Odd and unsettling, this might not be for everyone, but we thought it was magic.

—— HEAT magazine

Dark and magical, one of the best books I've read this year.

—— Books, Bones & Buffy

A fairytale, a psychological portrait and a bleak drama.

—— New Books Magazine

A brilliant and sinister debut.

—— Ginger Nuts of Horror

Beautiful, strange . . . hideously dark, delights in unsettling.

—— The Bookbag

Creepy and disturbing right from the start.

—— Spooky Mrs Green

A disturbing but brilliant narrative . . . a rare treat.

—— WOMAN'S WEEKLY

A great tapestry of busy-ness . . . Walter's descriptive passage are marvellous

—— Francesca Carington , Sunday Telegraph

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