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Lonely Mouth

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What to expect

Sink your teeth into a slice of family drama with this deliciously funny novel about sisterhood, secrets and the things you can't stomach.

Matilda knows about hunger. She works in one of Sydney's buzziest restaurants, Bocca, while suppressing her cravings, including for her celebrity chef boss, Colson. Everything in her life is tightly controlled: she allows herself one weekend a month to feast and purge, the rest of the time, she stays perfect.

That is, until her younger half-sister Lara crashes back into town, stirring up the family’s chaotic past and bringing long-buried family secrets to the surface. As the pressure rises in the kitchen and at home, Matilda’s carefully compartmentalised life begins to unravel.

A deliciously moreish book club novel about food, appetite, body image, family dysfunction and desire – perfect for readers looking for a smart summer holiday read.

‘Witty, savage and poignant’ NIGELLA LAWSON
'Humane and deeply, darkly humorous' MARINA KEMP, author of UNWILDING
'Gorgeous, mesmerising' CLAIRE POWELL, author of ALL IN

© Jacqueline Maley 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Critics Review

A song of abandonment, ghastly mothers, dysfunctional families, sisterhood and loss... Witty, savage and poignant
NIGELLA LAWSON
[Lonely Mouth] is brilliant on how repressing the past rather than dealing with it means it’s always there, ready to ruin the present too
Daily Mail
An incredible read about families, body image and the importance of letting go
The Sun
Exploring themes of addiction, love, loss and abandonment, Maley’s nuanced novel feels like a pressure cooker ready to explode
Mail on Sunday
Richly drawn, wry and utterly compelling. I devoured it in a weekend
FELICITY CLOAKE
Lonely Mouth is humane and deeply, darkly humorous. Maley has a gift for character. Her cast of misfits stayed with me long after reading
MARINA KEMP, author of The Unwilding
Packed full of gripping family dysfunction, we devoured this. Just don't read it when you're hungry!
Heat Magazine
I'm so glad to have discovered Jacqueline Maley. She writes with wit, poise and precision, while her characters are devastatingly real. Lonely Mouth is a gorgeous, mesmerising novel
CLAIRE POWELL, author of At The Table
Complex, layered, and gut-wrenching, Lonely Mouth laces personal trauma and family dysfunction with humour and humanity. A singularly rich and moreish novel – I couldn't get enough of it
GRAINNE O'HARE, author of Thirst Trap
Read the first sentence of Jacqueline Maley’s debut novel, and you will be in it until the end. Electrifying, deeply unsettling and so, so satisfying. And, if you’ve ever tried to manage the sharp end of a career with the blunt demands of parenthood, fiercely recognisable
MEG MASON, on The Truth About Her
Author Jacqueline Maley
Narrator Hannah Fredericksen
Duration 10 hours and 12 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781529997811
Format Audiobook
Publisher Random House
Genre Coping with body image issues, Cultural studies: food and society, Family life fiction, Modern and contemporary fiction, Narrative theme: Love and relationships
Availability GB, IE, US

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