Going Home
On sale
13th March 2025
Price: £9.99
A best book of the year for the Guardian, Economist and Daily Express
An Observer debut of the year
‘Exceptionally touching . . . A terrific reminder that what binds us to our loved ones isn’t blood but the care we take to keep them close, and our ability to show up for them when we screw it up on the first go-round’
NEW YORK TIMES
‘Gently comic, bittersweet’
GUARDIAN, Books of the year
‘A poignant and generous story’
TESSA HADLEY, DAILY EXPRESS Books of the Year
‘In an unsentimental evocation of fatherhood and male friendship, this novel explores the glory and sacrifice involved in learning to love’
ECONOMIST, Books of the year
‘Pepped up and gorgeous, just bristling with life’
OLIVIA LAING, GUARDIAN
‘Brilliantly observed’
NEW YORKER
‘A beautiful, funny tale of lives new and old’
SUNDAY TIMES
‘I loved it . . . word-perfect’
INDIA KNIGHT
‘A spirit-lifting debut’
DAVID MITCHELL
‘I adored every moment. The characters have stayed with me ever since’
BELLA MACKIE
Téo Erskine might have a steady job and a brand-new London flat, but underneath the surface, he’s still the boy seeking approval from his father, Vic; the young man playing late-night poker with his best friend, Ben; the one still in love with the enigmatic Lia, now a single mum to a young boy, Joel.
When the unthinkable happens, two-year-old Joel finds himself at the centre of this odd constellation of men – Téo, Vic, Ben. None of them is fully equipped to look after him, but their tentative attempts at love might just be enough to offer him a new place to call home.
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Reviews
A bittersweet and moving debut that beautifully explores male friendship and what it means to be a father
An affecting debut about fatherhood and male friendship
Lamont's debut is shrewd, heartfelt and witty, and his cast of Londoners feel intensely real
Lamont explores the trade-offs of parenthood, the tidal pull of long-held bonds and the dissonance of joy amid heartbreak in this witty, poignant debut
A beautiful, funny tale of London and lives new and old
A spirit-lifting debut novel of friendship, fatherhood, growth and forgiveness. A bluff song of praise to north London, peopled by engaging, fallible characters, and rich in glinting turns of phrase
Lamont mixes poignancy . . . with humour, capturing well the cadences of a toddler . . . Lamont conveys a strong sense of place . . . his characters, to me, felt intensely real
I will never forget these characters: so pained and funny, so brilliantly drawn, wrestled with and forgiven
A remarkably assured, moving, melancholy and funny debut
A poignant yet very funny novel about three men taking turns at shouldering responsibility and shrugging it off, at worrying and causing worry, at giving care and needing it. Tom Lamont writes in clear, swift prose about the power struggles that exist in even the most loving of families and the longest of friendships. A lyrical, hypnotic delight
A meltingly warm comedy centred on two old school pals recently turned 30 . . . While the testy male bonds at the book's heart supply plenty of laughter, the book owes its generous humour not to gags, but tone, which gives it an equally light hand with any number of unfunny subjects
Bittersweet, funny and moving, Going Home is all this but also has a bright ring of truth which chimes on every page
A debut which skilfully and tenderly explores male relationships, belonging and what we leave behind. I adored every moment. The characters have stayed with me ever since
I enjoyed this sharp, tender novel of love and loss set in a scrupulously observed London suburb. From tragic beginnings it builds a slow fire of hope as its characters learn new ways to live and care for each other
Explores parenthood, responsibility, freedom and faith . . . Immersive and finely observed
Deftly written, Going Home is one of the best debuts I've read in a long time. Joel and Téo crept into my heart and I did not want to let them go. Lamont's impressive skill as a writer spills out of every page
I've read Going Home twice now and I still don't feel as if I've tapped its power. Children seem to be more alive than adults, keener, less jaded, and this novel feels the same, pepped up and gorgeous, just bristling with life
Charm is an underrated quality in fiction . . . It comes from an alchemical blend of elements including narrative voice and character, and Tom Lamont's debut novel, Going Home, set in the Jewish community in Enfield, north London, has charm to burn . . . a book that succeeds so strongly through its charm and its heart
In this touching exploration of male relationships, Lamont paints London as it is . . . The characters' flaws add vivacity and realism to the narrative, as well as providing constant ups and downs. From the imperfections of life, Lamont has fashioned a poignant work of fiction
Touching . . . well-drawn characters, believable dialogue and nuanced emotions cast new light on life in this bittersweet book
There's a lot of fun to be had in this excellent debut centred on friendships, filial bonds and the demands of childcare
At the centre of Lamont's book are the breathless, torrential outpourings of a child whose magnetism pulls all the adults around him together. In capturing the gradual and thorny journey of Joel and Téo towards becoming father and son, almost despite themselves, Lamont does something remarkable
A tender, original, finely paced debut . . . Lamont captures the familiarity and claustrophobia of suburban London and the feeling that nothing and everything has changed
Vividly rendered . . . with emphasis on character and its warm, witty dialogue, Going Home is splendidly old fashioned but also strikingly modern in its themes and set-ups, especially its broader exploration of home and family
A journey into rarely explored territory
Very funny in places and deeply poignant in others - I loved it . . . word-perfect
A spirited, shrewd debut
What most impresses about Going Home is the brilliant portrait of Joel . . . this is a 'sharp', refreshing debut
Delightfully idiosyncratic . . . a genuinely heart-warming story. Lamont's deft blending of humour and pathos marks him down as a writer to watch
A different kind of love story, beautifully told . . . An obvious parallel might be the work of Jon McGregor . . . [it] restored my faith in wholesome novelistic pleasures that work well in good hands but have failed to excite me in recent novels. Several point-of-view narrators are inhabited dutifully, and equally; there's a concentrated locality, many corners of which are shown love and illuminated; a culture; a strong social element, played without manipulative cynicism. There are rolling banks of nice sentences and dialogue that sounds like real speech without sacrificing shape or dynamism. Going Home has the lot. It's been a while since I've read a piece of straightforward British realism and been this impressed.
This is the literary version of your favourite returning family drama . . . Going Home might feature one of the greatest iterations of the quintessentially British "forever-a-lad" archetype . . . I know so many guys like Benjamin Mossam, indeed most of my dearest friends remind me of him, but never found a novel that portrayed them quite the same way, definitely not so fondly and with such texture and complexity
I loved this story and these people. I see them wherever I go. I couldn't wait to walk through those streets alongside those characters again. London itself is a wonderful backdrop - as vivid, complicated and brutal as the character's lives. There are big themes - family, fatherhood, friendship, loss and love - but they're all handled sympathetically, truthfully and with great humour. There's such generosity to Tom Lamont's writing, a rare and treasurable thing
Well-drawn characters, believable dialogue and nuanced emotions cast new light on love in this bittersweet book
There is so much to love about this book, foremost the poignantly, sometimes painfully detailed portrait of 30-something guys . . . Joel himself-his way of speaking, his tantrums, his predilections, his memory-is one of the most vivid fictional children since Jack in Room . . . Their synagogue has a new rabbi, a woman named Sibyl Challis, who is also the best rabbi character in recent memory . . . A great premise, a great story, but most of all, great characters
Three men become responsible for a motherless toddler. In an unsentimental evocation of fatherhood and male friendship, this novel explores the glory and sacrifice involved in learning to love
Gently comic, bittersweet
Someone put Tom Lamont's Going Home in my hand the other day and I was soon involved in his lovely, exact sentences and perceptions, building a poignant and generous story about some men looking after a baby
Exceptionally touching . . . Lamont shows his talent for revealing the depth of the characters' feelings through their small, quotidian joys and tragedies . . . funny and poignant, bittersweet and moving - yet never maudlin . . . Going Home made me cry on more than one occasion, and laugh out loud many more times. It's a terrific reminder that what binds us to our loved ones isn't blood but the care we take to keep them close, and our ability to show up for them when we screw it up on the first go-round.
An affecting tale about friendship, fatherhood, family ties, and finding the ability to love unconditionally . . . Infused with a steady supply of warmth, pathos, and sardonic wit . . . The novel's standout feature is its expertly drawn characters. Lamont rotates their perspectives for each chapter and in doing so brings us closer to them
Lamont writes with an affable style that is wise to varying notions of masculinity . . . We are delivered real, vivid characters in all their messy glory, crafted with such sensitivity that readers will care about them long after closing the book
Going Home overflows with heart, and its characters feel real with their multitude of dreams, fears, serious self-doubts and fierce loyalties . . . Lamont paces events with precision and humour, asking life's big questions regarding family and friendship, duty and devotion . . . The debut of a gifted writer whose readers will find themselves feeling better, somehow, about the world
The shifts in perspective and the rich characterization are similar to those of Jonathan Franzen . . . Lamont superbly depicts neurodegenerative decline and complex family dynamics . . . Brilliantly capturing mundane and surprising aspects of raising a child, this is a fascinating portrait of parenting, the British Jewish community, and the struggle to break ties that may be holding you back
Brilliantly observed . . . Lamont's story of a make-do family revels in the often comically porous borders of faith, home, and adulthood