‘This debut novel feels different . . . [and will] speak to anyone who can remember how glorious – and dangerous – it once felt to find yourself in possession of a fully functioning heart.’ Neil Bartlett, Guardian, Book of the Day 

‘There’s something so invigorating about finding a talented novelist at the very beginning of her career: it creates that particular sense of dynamic engagement which is exactly what makes reading so enduringly thrilling. Jean is a coming of age novel which conveys with almost unbearable tension the adolescent tangle of certainty and confusion, the ferocity of love and hate, its alienation and anger. Yet Dunnigan achieves this with remarkable grace and in prose that flexes with sinewy elegance.’ Nigella Lawson 

‘Jean utterly transported me. This coming-of-age novel has an unexpected and powerful undertow, revealing itself to be a story of unresolved loss and eventual erasure. Madeleine Dunnigan writes such beautifully tempered prose, and hers is an exquisite debut.’ Katie Kitamura, author of Audition

‘There’s something uncanny in Madeleine Dunnigan’s austerely beautiful prose, in how what begins as a character study takes on a cosmic scale. Jean is a darkly luminous, profound novel; there are passages that give the shock of the genuinely great. An extraordinary debut.’ Garth Greenwell, author of Small Rain​

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‘Madeleine Dunnigan is an important new voice in fiction. She tells this most unique coming-of-age story with strength and delicacy, emotion and precision. Jean is a gift.’ Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Everything is Illuminated

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‘After reading Madeleine Dunnigan’s incandescent Jean, I truly feel I have lived a second life as a tempestuous outcast at a British boarding school, at once terribly lonely and utterly electrified by the allure of forbidden desire. Few debuts are as textured, immersive, and psychological. Fewer still so humanely capture the wildness and abjection of the adolescent heart.’ Maggie Millner, author of Couplets

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‘Jean is the rare novel I wish I’d had when I was younger, confused, pained, and a book I am so grateful I’ll have for the rest of my life.  A showcase of tenderness and talent, Jean is a profound look at the universes within intimations.’ August Thompson, author of Anyone's Ghost

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‘This book is so beautiful. I love how it lingers in the mix-up between desire and fear. It’s luscious and at the same time spiky, graceful and explosive, magical and brutal.’ Lillian Fishman author of Acts of Service

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‘Striking and wholly transporting novel . . . The writing is gentle yet powerful, the story itself luminous and full of emotion.’ Diana Evans 

‘Intimate, immersive and precise, I was captivated by Jean and its [. . .] sensuality and the slow movements towards heartbreak. I loved this book.’ Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water Cure

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‘Reading it feels like witnessing the early work of one of Britain’s next great novelists.’ Amelia Abraham, author of Queer Intentions

‘The literary love child of Garth Greenwell and Ian McEwan is a young woman called Madeleine.’ Madeleine Feeny, The Bookseller