Small Comfort

Longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026
Five dazzlingly experimental short stories about money, from International Booker Prize-shortlisted author Ia Genberg and translator Kira Josefsson.

LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2026
'Zings and smarts in all the right places . breathtakingly original, profound but with a delicious dose of irreverence'
INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2026 JUDGES

'Brilliantly funny, poignant and timeless . This newly Booker Prize-longlisted novel is ripe for book club discussions and is not recommended for public transport reading in case you, like this reviewer, miss your stop'
READINGS BOOKS, Melbourne

'An entertaining, thought-provoking piece of fiction'
A Life In Books

'Simple, delicate, delicious prose that delivers from the very first story' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ READER REVIEW

'Smart, clever . such a brilliant read!' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ READER REVIEW

_______


'You know, love is love, he says. But what about the revolution?'

Intricately built and wickedly humorous, these five interconnected short stories are all about one thing: money.

From an interview with a child-star-turned-thief to the mysterious death of an employee at a drug manufacturer - or the couple feigning marital bliss to keep their inheritance, Ia Genberg carefully unravels the value we place on both money and people.

What does it really mean to be in debt to someone? How does our financial worth permeate the ways we think and feel? And what do we lose when we supposedly win? Small Comfort skewers its characters, slyly implicating the reader along the way.

A brilliantly original and thought-provoking collection from the author and translator of The Details, shortlisted for the 2024 International Booker Prize.

More praise for Small Comfort:

'A delightful and exquisitely executed literary mini-study that brings to mind Joan Didion' - Expressen

'Her humour and delight in language make the stories crackle with life' - Svenska Dagbladet

'I haven't read anything better this year' - Sydsvenskan

'Genberg captures, with intelligence and insight, the afflictions of our time' - Göteborgs-Poste

Praise for Ia Genberg:

'Miraculous' - Hernan Diaz, author of Trust

'I wish I could write like this' - Fredrik Backman, author of A Man Called Ove

'So good that I kept underlining passages so I could reread them later' - Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

'Mesmerizing and hot to the touch' - Catherine Lacey, New York Times

Contributor: Kira Josefsson (Translated by)

Translator: Kira Josefsson

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