Sophie, Standing There

Heartwarming, tender and so funny, Sophie, Standing There is a wonderful, bittersweet story of what it means to be truly, achingly lonely. I loved it

Gillian Anderson

I feel like I know Meg Mason’s characters; they are relatable enough to be universal, but always have that edge or quirk that makes them unexpected - and completely compelling. Anyone who can make me sigh wistfully and snort with laughter in the same paragraph has my literary loyalty for life

Jojo Moyes, author of ME BEFORE YOU

A funny, poignant, quirky look at the entrancing nature of a parasocial relationship. I love Meg Mason’s sharpness and humour, she is the queen of the pithy one liner that stops you in your tracks

Emma Gannon, author of OLIVE and TABLE FOR ONE

Truly inspired and original

Esther Freud, author of MY SISTER AND OTHER LOVERS

It's raw, it's massively sad; it's hilariously funny and so epigrammatic that after writing down the novel’s pithily astute phrases, I realised I was almost writing out the whole book

Barbara Trapido, author of BROTHER OF THE MORE FAMOUS JACK

Sophie, Standing There explores the layers of longing that mirror the deep, quiet ache of a life spent searching for a home that always feels just out of reach — a displacement where the only constant is the act of looking itself

The Telegraph

So beautifully written and Sophie’s unexquisite world is described so exquisitely. I absolutely lived and breathed Sophie. Such a tender, funny, sad, moving, complicated, painful and yet hopeful book

Georgia Pritchett, author of MY MESS IS A BIT OF A LIFE

A witty story of infatuation set in the literary world ... Mason is brilliant

Guardian

Meg Mason is back with another introspective, heartfelt read

People

From the bestselling author of publishing sensation Sorrow and Bliss, comes this beautiful novel of love, loss and loneliness that is brimming with heart and humour and one of the finest drawn characters in fiction

Harper's Bazaar

From the author of runaway hit Sorrow & Bliss comes a story following Sophie Pattison whose life is full of love and meaning, apart from when it’s achingly lonely. A candid exploration of where and how we seek connection and what we’re really looking for when we search for love. Meg Mason is masterful when it comes to combining emotionally packed characters and story arcs with moments of pure hilarity

Elle

I found myself unable to put this book down, fascinated not only by Sophie and her extremely relatable feelings and experiences, but by Mason's exquisitely intimate storytelling … Meg Mason has created a novel that perfectly captures not a sad girl, but a woman moving through huge changes in a modern world

Red Magazine

A raw account of a woman on the brink … and a deeply relatable, intimate read

Good Housekeeping

This witty novel is a smart, metatextual affair, with thoughts on “sad girl fiction” and plenty of fun author cameos. (Although I have met George Saunders and I swear he’s too sweet to get stroppy about his microphone)

Guardian

A funny, bittersweet story about solitude and connection

i Paper

Meg Mason brings her signature warmth and wit to a story set in the literary world

Harper's Bazaar

Sophie, Standing There is bittersweet, its precise notes of humour and joy delivered from under a veil of persistent melancholy. Genuinely uplifting books for intelligent readers are rare, and this is one of them

Sydney Morning Herald

A moving meditation on connection, loneliness and the allure of celebrity. Mason writes with an enviable lightness of touch, her prose rich with astute observations and razor-sharp wit ... I loved this

The Australian

I ate this up in a day and could have stayed in Sophie's world even longer. Chuckling, cringing, and aching for Sophie. I felt completely in her skin, for better or worse. Wickedly funny and memorable

Spotify Editors' Picks

Funny in its very bones ... This is a real book-lover's book. Mason has again achieved the impressive feat of balancing sadness with humour to profoundly enjoyable effect. You won't forget Sophie in a hurry

New Zealand Listener

A novel that is a dream to read - sentences that slip down, that simultaneously twist at the heartstrings and knock at the funnybone ... Deeply satisfying but never twee. There's a master intelligence at work in the architecture of this novel that feels very much like a magic trick. The writer watches us as we become immersed in her creation. The final chapter is a breathtaking breaking of the fourth wall, checking that capacity to imagine, tugging even tighter our entanglement with story and storytellers

The Spinoff

Deeply engaging, raw and funny ... Captivatingly good

Sainsbury's Magazine

This novel shares its predecessor's wit and empathetic approachability

Mail on Sunday