Chosen Family
The unforgettable new novel from the author of Green Dot
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Narrated by:
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Madeleine Withington
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By:
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Madeleine Gray
About this listen
'BEAUTIFUL, DEVASTATING, HILARIOUS AND FULL OF LIFE' JESSICA STANLEY
'ALL KINDS OF GORGEOUSNESS' JENNIE GODFREY
'GRAY WRITES SO ACUTELY ABOUT THE MESS OF DESIRE AND THE HUMAN CONDITION' NIGELLA LAWSON
Books about friendship are not often described as love stories, but this is one.
At the age of twelve, Nell has accepted that hers will likely be a friendless existence. She's not interested in boys or makeup or competing to see who can eat the least - so fitting in at her all-girls' school feels impossible.
But then, a new girl arrives at school.
Eve has short hair like a boy, a wicked sense of humour and an unshakable confidence that she will find her place in the world. The moment they meet, Nell begins to rethink the whole friendless existence thing.
As they grow into themselves, Nell and Eve will love each other and hurt each other - through the chlorine-scented savagery of adolescence; long, drunken nights in share houses and gay bars; and the highs and lows of parenthood.
And always, despite unspoken feelings and sexual confusion, they will choose each other. Again, and again. As friends, as lovers, as family.©2026 Madeleine Gray
Critic reviews
This brilliantly sharp and readable book explores friendship, parenting, love, lust, self-deception and all the ways those things overlap. It reveals the cruelties we inflict on those we are closest to and asks if we might be able to find new, more honest, ways to love (Joanna Quinn)
A loose-limbed, poignant, athletically written acid-smart story of finding your tribe amid societal repression and deep personal uncertainty (Nadine O'Regan)
Hilarious and emotional, it examines friendship, love and separation without sentimentality (Anna Bonet)
If you're going to start your year reading one book, make it this one. Full of heart, hilarity and the messiness of being human (Hannah Nathanson)
Arriving with buckets of love, this is the one that'll reaffirm your faith in humans (Francesca Brown)
Sometimes savage, sometimes heart-warming . . . Chosen Family thrums with the vitality and connection of girlhood and female friendships
Madeline Gray writes so acutely about the mess of desire and the human condition (Nigella Lawson)
Chosen Family is all kinds of gorgeousness, filled with brilliant, complicated characters, love, sex and laughter, along with a portrait of adolescence so accurate it almost broke my heart (Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things)
I laughed, I cried, I fell in love with Chosen Family. Beautiful, devastating, hilarious and full of life (Jessica Stanley, author of Consider Yourself Kissed)
Chosen Family felt like being welcomed into a world full of in-jokes, drama, comfort, chaos and love - I was completely in its thrall until the very last page. Madeleine Gray has written something very special: an epic story of female intimacy that is gripping, poignant, extremely funny and bracingly true (Lisa Owens, author of Not Working)
A passionate ode to friendship that is sharp and hilarious funny, brave and utopian, sexy but not too serious about it. Most of all it felt deeply real and true (Niamh Campbell, author of This Happy)
Madeleine Gray's characters are so vivid, their actions and conversations so real, that I wanted to pick up my phone and yell at each and every one of them. A very funny, very hopeful novel about friendship and forgiveness and the hard work of trying to build a life (Kate Young, author of Experienced)
Hilarious and devastating. I was caught in the Medusa's gaze of Chosen Family. This book is everything to me (Siang Lu, author of Ghost Cities)
Excellent
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