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The House of Journalists
The House of Journalists
Nov 12, 2025 8:54 PM

Author:Tim Finch

The House of Journalists

A fashionable house in a London terrace, the House of Journalists is renowned around the world as a place of refuge for exiled writers who have fallen foul of oppressive regimes. Run by Julian Snowman, successful writer and broadcaster, its fellows include the newspaper editor Mr Stan whose hands were smashed with hammers; a journalist called Mustapha who spoke out vainly against a brutal coup (and got his name from an immigration officer who tells him he ‘Must ‘ave a name’); Agnes, a young photojournalist who recorded her country’s descent into civil war; and Sonny, who endured a harrowing journey to safety. Only one man guards his story: the new fellow, AA.

A first novel of rare originality, The House of Journalists creates an unforgettable world of displacement and hubris, heartbreak and humour; it has a narrative voice that is utterly distinct, at once beguiling and disturbing.

Reviews

It’s an astonishingly good book… There are thoughts here on human rights and the loneliness of those expelled from home, but this serious backbone is wrapped in good stories, humour and tenderness

—— Emerald Street

A strange but oddly effective mixture of often-light comedy and often-brutal reportage from the front line against tyranny

—— Harry Ritchie , Daily Mail

A savagely funny broadside aimed at the industry of suffering… The former journalist now working for a think tank is authoritative on his subject matter but also irreverently amusing when it comes to sacred cows in this delightfully unusual novel

—— Siobhan Murphy , Metro

Ambitious debut novel, a black-hued satire about asylum-seekers

—— Olivia Laing , New Statesman

Full of interesting characters

—— Washington Post

At once more universal and more personal than anything he has written before.

—— Josh Glancy , Sunday Times

Slim in dimension but as solid as sculpted rock... Around Grossman’s region, countless parents have had to endure the premature death of children and so enter this “land of exile”. Although it grows from a private, incomparable ordeal, this noble fable speaks for all of them.

—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent

In this book of sorrows, Grossman captures every shade of grief and guilt. There is very little good writing about bereavement; Falling out of Time is as true and as powerful as CS Lewis's great A Grief Observed.

—— Kate Saunders , The Times

Strange and passionate... What grips is the emotional suspense that Grossman articulates: that remembering and forgetting can be as bad as each other, that finding a way to understand what happened risks cheapening it.

—— Simon Willis , Intelligent Life

Fusing prose and verse in the form of a drama, it's a searing glimpse of the most intimate grief but also hints at the possibility of redemption through the act of writing.

—— Metro

A significant new departure in literature.

—— Stoddard Martin , Jewish Chronicle

Heart-wrenching, moving and worth numerous reads.

—— Vicki Bartram , UK Press Syndication

A small miracle of literary complexity and invention, which grows on re-reading.

—— Terry Philpot , Tablet

Falling Out of Time is a novel that will strike a chord with anyone who has suffered a loss and struggled to move beyond it

—— Brendan Wright , Nudge

A strange, harrowing, deeply soulful and, in moments, quite unexpectedly beautiful book

—— Billy O’Callaghan , Irish Examiner

Extraordinary, moving and laced with Amelie-style wonderment

—— Sainsburys Magazine

Everything about the characters and the writing feels exactly right

—— Sunday Telegraph (Australia)

Brilliantly written... This is a special, unique story; a novel to cheer you up, make you laugh and even make you tear up at the end. Already a bestseller abroad, Lost and Found deserves to fly off the shelves in the UK too.

—— Running In Heels

Seven-year-old Millie is perhaps 2015’s finest comic creation. Funny, sassy and prematurely wise … Bewitching

—— James Kidd , Independen, Books of the Year

You’ll relate, but mostly you’ll laugh as Close turns her sweet-tart wit on the dating and mating shenanigans of this tight-knit group of friends

—— Redbook

Close’s wry wit and deadpan delivery...make this debut novel a treat to read. . . . An original confection with echoes of The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing and a dollop of Sex and the City

—— Shelf Awareness

Jennifer Close’s debut, Girls in White Dresses, follows a group of young women doing all the things they know they shouldn’t—falling for one’s boss, dating gay men—all while drinking far too many mimosas at other people’s weddings

—— Vogue.com

Funny... These stories will resonate with readers in the throes of the quarter-life churn

—— Publishers Weekly

What a delight! The young women in this hugely appealing book are charming, funny, rueful, poignant - just like their creator, in other words, one of the freshest and most appealing new voices in fiction. I can't wait for more work from Jennifer Close

—— Ann Packer, bestselling author of The Dive from Clausen’s Pier and Swim Back to Me

The only way to express my love for Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close is to tell you that this is the one book that I will be recommending over and over again to all of my friends. I laughed, I cried, I nodded knowingly as the characters waded their way through the hits and misses of their twenties and thirties. I can't remember the last time I loved a book as much as this one

—— Allison Winn Scotch, New York Times bestselling author of 'The One That I Want' and 'Time of My Life'

Girls In White Dresses is a dark, funny, intimate romp through boyfriends, first apartments, and great friendships - but beneath the surface lurks the jealousy, disappointment, and love that didn't quite end up the way you thought it would. Jennifer Close's brilliant, deadpan humor made me laugh so hard my own roommate thought I was nuts

—— Margot Berwin, author of Hothouse Flower

Girls in White Dresses is about a group of smart, funny, unapologetically grouchy, always-hungover female friends who kvetch their way through one another's weddings and showers, stare blearily at one another's offspring, sometimes barely tolerate one another's men, but nonetheless have one another's backs through thick and thin. Jennifer Close has written an unsentimental, frank novel about female friendship - its lifelong loyalties and unconditional love

—— Kate Christensen, PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author of 'The Great Man' and 'The Astral'

I recently read a book which explores the same post-university landscape that Girls handles; Jennifer Close's Girls In White Dresses. Like Girls, it is often funny, moving and true to (my and other straight women of a certain age living in a big city) life

—— Bim Adewunmi , Guardian

Delightful… Sharply and sparely written … a great debut

—— Wendy Holden , Daily Mail, Books of the Year

A quiet sense of emotional tragedy, sharp observational humour and writing so economically precise you long to read every sentence twice

—— Huffington Post

Perfects the intimate, easy style that makes reading her such a pleasure

—— Claire Allfree , Metro

The worlds she creates are so absorbing and believable; she taps into our innate curiosity about people just like ourselves

—— Sophie White , Sunday Independent

What she does, in the course of this novel, is show that the simplest family stories often have complex roots and unlikely outcomes. This is a book full of surprises, and Tyler is adept at the great revelation that both startles and throws what has come before into a whole new light

—— Erica Wagner , Financial Times

A warm, wise and funny book

—— Candis

A believable and wise read

—— Joanne Finney , Good Housekeeping

The texture of everyday experience transmuted into art

—— Kirkus Review

[A] wonderful book

—— Elspeth Barker , Literary Review

When it comes to painting a loving, funny and yet never simplistic portrait of American family life, Anne Tyler is, and always has been, the great mistress

—— Erica Wagner , Financial Times

There is no limit to the superlatives that Tyler inspires

—— Eileen Battersby , Irish Times

With A Spool of Blue Thread, the Pulitzer Prize winning novelist is on typically fine form

—— Jennifer Lipman , Optima Magazine

Sincerely and carefully told

—— Angus Sutherland, 5 stars , Skinny

This is a book that explores moral and psychological ambiguities with extraordinary subtlety

—— Caroline Moore , Oldie

Deftly written with skilful characterisation... A master of conversation

—— Vanessa Berridge , Daily Express

A Spool of Blue Thread does an exquisite job

—— Leo Robson , New Statesman

This is a novel to cherish

—— MediaCity

Wonderful new novel

—— 5 stars , Western Mail

A truly delightful read

—— Rachael Roberts , Big Issue

Ms. Tyler has a knack for turning sitcom situations into something far deeper and more moving

—— Rebecca Pepper Sinkler , International New York Times

A moving, well-crafted reflection on life and death and the relationships that sustain us through both

—— Sarah Gilmartin , Sunday Business Post

How can it be so wonderful!... Tyler remains among the best chroniclers of family life

—— Washington Post

Astonishingly adept

—— Leo Robson , New Statesman

Tyler describes so accurately the frailties, turmoil and love of family life

—— Big Issue

No one does family sagas quite like Anne Tyler

—— Matilda Bathurst , Country Life

Mundane yet magical, thus pure Tyler

—— Markie Robson-Scott , Tablet

Anne Tyler paints a large-scale portrait on a small-scale canvas and does it beautifully

—— Good Book Guide

In many ways this novel is a culmination of all those that have gone before it; it combines a multitude of themes and never fails to exact humour alongside the more sombre task of delving into topical issues such as sexuality, relationships and ageing

—— Francesa Wilson , Gryphon

Absolutely wonderful, a work of genius

—— Gill Hornby , Lady

It's so rich in detail and reality, so simple, but so compelling. I wept

—— Victoria Hislop , Waitrose Weekend

Is as good as anything she has ever written

—— Razia Iqbal , Independent

Another insightful study of family life. It may be familiar territory for the writer, but she commands it absolutely

—— Neville Hawcock , Financial Times

One to read on a family holiday

—— Fiona Wilson , The Times

Her gift for producing what seems less like fiction than actuality works wonders

—— Peter Kemp , Sunday Times Ireland

Heartwarming

—— Four stars , Love it!

Highly reccommended

—— Fiona Atley , Nudge

May be her best yet, though, to be honest, this is what I always tend to say after reading the latest Anne Tyler.

—— Craig Brown , Mail on Sunday

Superbly accomplished, perceptive and funny, tugged forward by suspended revelations to its hurricane climax

—— Robert McCrum , Observer

[Tyler] writes so sparingly and yet her books are dense with the complexities of human emotions

—— Natasha Harding, Jessica Fellowes , The Sun

Pure pleasure

—— Mark Amory , Spectator

[Tyler] has the rapier wit of a true satirist

—— Molly Guiness , Spectator

Anne Tyler is a magician: what she does seems so simple and et it weaves a compelling spell

—— D O'D , RTE Guide

Utterly absorbing, heartbreaking and endearing

—— Best

Tyler explores the simmering resentment that often underpins familial relationships, as well as the elusive nature of the American Dream

—— Paul Nolan , Hot Press

A book that is shot through with random misfortune, but which takes infinite pleasure in the detail of everyday family life.

—— Daisy Goodwin , Daily Mail

Rivalries flare between siblings and secrets unravel, as Tyler shines a brilliant light on our fundamental relationships and the span of life.

—— Sainsbury’s Magazine

Since the characters are actual, flawed human beings, it makes the story unbelievably relatable.

—— Emmy Griffiths , So Feminine

One of the greatest storytellers alive, whose characters arrive on the page like human beings, things happen to them, they react to these things, and then life continues

—— John Boyne , Irish Times

A stunning novel about three generations of a family that perfectly captures the fights, petty irritations and deep connections between them

—— Good Housekeeping

A rich and perceptive examination of uneven family relationships

—— Yorkshire Post
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