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The party
An irresistible novella about two sisters and a night that changes everything, from the master chronicler of our heart’s hidden desires.
Evelyn had the surprising thought that bodies were sometimes wiser than the people inside them. She’d have liked to impress somebody with this idea, but couldn’t explain it.
On a winter Saturday night in post-war Bristol, sisters Moira and Evelyn, on the cusp of adulthood, go to an art students’ party in a dockside pub; there they meet two men, Paul and Sinden, whose air of worldliness and sophistication both intrigues and repels them. Sinden calls a few days later to invite them over to the grand suburban mansion Paul shares with his brother and sister, and Moira accepts despite Evelyn’s misgivings.
As the night unfolds in this unfamiliar, glamorous new setting, the sisters learn things about themselves and each other that shock them, and release them into a new phase of their lives.
Evelyn had the surprising thought that bodies were sometimes wiser than the people inside them. She’d have liked to impress somebody with this idea, but couldn’t explain it.
On a winter Saturday night in post-war Bristol, sisters Moira and Evelyn, on the cusp of adulthood, go to an art students’ party in a dockside pub; there they meet two men, Paul and Sinden, whose air of worldliness and sophistication both intrigues and repels them. Sinden calls a few days later to invite them over to the grand suburban mansion Paul shares with his brother and sister, and Moira accepts despite Evelyn’s misgivings.
As the night unfolds in this unfamiliar, glamorous new setting, the sisters learn things about themselves and each other that shock them, and release them into a new phase of their lives.
128 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2024
276 people are currently reading
3440 people want to read
About the author
Tessa Hadley
64 books972 followersTessa Hadley is the author of Sunstroke and Other Stories, and the novels The Past, Late in the Day and Clever Girl. She lives in Cardiff, Wales, and teaches literature and creative writing at Bath Spa University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 499 reviews
November 11, 2024
i got absolutely nothing out of this. it reads like a bad fanfic author trying to recreate a claire keegan novel.
October 30, 2024
Vincent’s party is in full swing at The Steam Packet when Evelyn arrives, dressed to the nines. Her sister Moira, a friend of Vincent, doesn’t know she’s coming. and probably won’t be pleased but maybe Vincent will be as after all, he’s the one who invited her. The music is loud, it’s crowded and noisy as two worlds collide. This is post war Bristol Docklands with its workers are the bar and whilst many attendees are students like Moira and Evelyn, others are Bohemian, with other guests being at the posher end of the scale. This is an eclectic mix on this damp and chilly February night - how will the evening play out for the two sisters?
I really like the way Tessa Hadley writes and this is yet another book that I’ve enjoyed. Although this is a novella the author certainly packs a lot in. The storytelling is vivid and thoughtful and the two sisters are likeable central protagonists. Moira and Evelyn are quite the contrast, one is sophisticated whilst the other is somewhat gauche, Her inexperience is clear through her thoughts. The undertones and undercurrents of this mix of partygoers is palpable. There are thought provoking conversations which hat back and forth with clever use of language and entertaining repartee. The party is captured in full UHD thus it can easily visualise it in my mind’s eye.
This is an atmospheric novella and richly descriptive with the old pub in war damaged Bristol being particularly evocative. The subsequent day takes us to the sisters chaotic household and a Sunday lunch where the author captures some humour and later there’s a gathering in an old mansion of the same evening. Here the girls encounter a strange bunch, with a somewhat chilly reception which warms up in various ways as the evening wears on and readers witness how the sisters react to it all with some entertaining unfolding events.
Overall, the writing is powerful and the use of language is rich and clever. It evokes the postwar period with clarity both in Britain and elsewhere. It demonstrates the class system and gender roles and differences at this period of time. Although it’s an engaging and compelling novella, the best and most successful part of it is the party itself in my opinion.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to the publishers for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
I really like the way Tessa Hadley writes and this is yet another book that I’ve enjoyed. Although this is a novella the author certainly packs a lot in. The storytelling is vivid and thoughtful and the two sisters are likeable central protagonists. Moira and Evelyn are quite the contrast, one is sophisticated whilst the other is somewhat gauche, Her inexperience is clear through her thoughts. The undertones and undercurrents of this mix of partygoers is palpable. There are thought provoking conversations which hat back and forth with clever use of language and entertaining repartee. The party is captured in full UHD thus it can easily visualise it in my mind’s eye.
This is an atmospheric novella and richly descriptive with the old pub in war damaged Bristol being particularly evocative. The subsequent day takes us to the sisters chaotic household and a Sunday lunch where the author captures some humour and later there’s a gathering in an old mansion of the same evening. Here the girls encounter a strange bunch, with a somewhat chilly reception which warms up in various ways as the evening wears on and readers witness how the sisters react to it all with some entertaining unfolding events.
Overall, the writing is powerful and the use of language is rich and clever. It evokes the postwar period with clarity both in Britain and elsewhere. It demonstrates the class system and gender roles and differences at this period of time. Although it’s an engaging and compelling novella, the best and most successful part of it is the party itself in my opinion.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to the publishers for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
November 24, 2025
First, let’s wind the clock back to 2003.
The place is Bath. I’m studying for my Master’s Degree. My teacher is Tessa Hadley. Accidents in the Home* has not long come out in paperback, Everything Will Be All Right’s appearance in hardback is imminent.
I remember a feedback session in her office. Ms. Hadley (never ‘Tess’ or ‘Tessa’) stands approx 5 foot nothing and seemingly manages to drop the word ‘bourgeois’ into every other sentence. There is a galley proof of a New Yorker story laid on her desk. (‘They do make you work VERY hard, you know.’) The proof is annotated so heavily it looks like a chicken stepped on an ink pad and walked all over the paper.
I say something about how proud she must be to place her work in the magazine - Alice Munro had to wait decades before her talent graced its pages. She immediately freezes, stares at me directly, and tells me that without Alice Munro there might have been no Tessa Hadley (or something like that). I then mention William Trevor finally breaking into the magazine with ‘Torridge’ in 1973. ‘Oh William Trevor! I’ve never read him’, she says - and I am genuinely surprised. Oddly, she doesn’t seem to like John McGahern - too much of a CAS (crusty auld sod).
I graduated, left Bath, noted Ms. Hadley’s increased backlist on the bookshelves over the years, and that was that. Assuming, of course, we don’t count a brief spell of ‘Did you see…?’ emails, received by me, when she published a story about a student who, like myself, hailed from Birmingham.
So picking this novella for my next review was something of a catch-up. I rather hope the novella form makes something of a comeback, given Claire Keegan’s recent success - imagine something like the old Faber & Faber pocket poetry series and bookshop stands as a model!
It’d be fair to say that Ms. Hadley shares Munro’s fascination with petty frustration, rivalries, being brighter than your immediate peers (especially men) and insecurity. Her default protagonist is female, higher educated, left-ish, likes French literature or Henry James, and worries incessantly about her looks. Men are idiots, but what if the idiots don’t like me?
This is rather the meat of the novella’s text. It’s post-war Bristol and two sisters are attending a party. One, Moira, is older, more confident, and less interesting. The other, Evelyn, is younger, brighter, gawkier (‘girlish and gauche, however hard she tried’) and more endearing. Evelyn longs for a lover of her own, and burns with the shame of the inexperienced. Something, surely, must happen now that she’s started university - (‘where surely she would thrive, because she was clever’). It’s rather refreshing to see characters in English fiction who aren’t arrogant, obnoxious, or worse, Londoners.
The party the sisters attend is central to the story but not its entirety, which surprised me. (Abigail’s Party this isn’t.) I imagined the party would tease out the faultlines in the two sisters’ relationship, expose their hidden similarities and then finish, with a hint or two about their likely futures before the last full stop. Some may feel the second chapter lacks the power and immediacy of the first. Suffice to say we should remember the old maxim: be careful what you wish for. You just might get it. Ms. Hadley writes with power and clarity and triumphs when writing about failure.
*I still have my copy, signed ‘To Ryan, the only person I ever knew who finished Finnegan’s [sic] Wake!’
The place is Bath. I’m studying for my Master’s Degree. My teacher is Tessa Hadley. Accidents in the Home* has not long come out in paperback, Everything Will Be All Right’s appearance in hardback is imminent.
I remember a feedback session in her office. Ms. Hadley (never ‘Tess’ or ‘Tessa’) stands approx 5 foot nothing and seemingly manages to drop the word ‘bourgeois’ into every other sentence. There is a galley proof of a New Yorker story laid on her desk. (‘They do make you work VERY hard, you know.’) The proof is annotated so heavily it looks like a chicken stepped on an ink pad and walked all over the paper.
I say something about how proud she must be to place her work in the magazine - Alice Munro had to wait decades before her talent graced its pages. She immediately freezes, stares at me directly, and tells me that without Alice Munro there might have been no Tessa Hadley (or something like that). I then mention William Trevor finally breaking into the magazine with ‘Torridge’ in 1973. ‘Oh William Trevor! I’ve never read him’, she says - and I am genuinely surprised. Oddly, she doesn’t seem to like John McGahern - too much of a CAS (crusty auld sod).
I graduated, left Bath, noted Ms. Hadley’s increased backlist on the bookshelves over the years, and that was that. Assuming, of course, we don’t count a brief spell of ‘Did you see…?’ emails, received by me, when she published a story about a student who, like myself, hailed from Birmingham.
So picking this novella for my next review was something of a catch-up. I rather hope the novella form makes something of a comeback, given Claire Keegan’s recent success - imagine something like the old Faber & Faber pocket poetry series and bookshop stands as a model!
It’d be fair to say that Ms. Hadley shares Munro’s fascination with petty frustration, rivalries, being brighter than your immediate peers (especially men) and insecurity. Her default protagonist is female, higher educated, left-ish, likes French literature or Henry James, and worries incessantly about her looks. Men are idiots, but what if the idiots don’t like me?
This is rather the meat of the novella’s text. It’s post-war Bristol and two sisters are attending a party. One, Moira, is older, more confident, and less interesting. The other, Evelyn, is younger, brighter, gawkier (‘girlish and gauche, however hard she tried’) and more endearing. Evelyn longs for a lover of her own, and burns with the shame of the inexperienced. Something, surely, must happen now that she’s started university - (‘where surely she would thrive, because she was clever’). It’s rather refreshing to see characters in English fiction who aren’t arrogant, obnoxious, or worse, Londoners.
The party the sisters attend is central to the story but not its entirety, which surprised me. (Abigail’s Party this isn’t.) I imagined the party would tease out the faultlines in the two sisters’ relationship, expose their hidden similarities and then finish, with a hint or two about their likely futures before the last full stop. Some may feel the second chapter lacks the power and immediacy of the first. Suffice to say we should remember the old maxim: be careful what you wish for. You just might get it. Ms. Hadley writes with power and clarity and triumphs when writing about failure.
*I still have my copy, signed ‘To Ryan, the only person I ever knew who finished Finnegan’s [sic] Wake!’
May 8, 2025
Boreddddd 😬🥱
Sorry. I don’t want to be mean. I’m sure Tessa Hadley is very talented. HOWEVER, I only felt one emotion whilst reading this book, and that was bored 😑 thankfully, I picked this one up at the library, so nothing lost, nothing gained.
On to better books 📚💖🌟
Sorry. I don’t want to be mean. I’m sure Tessa Hadley is very talented. HOWEVER, I only felt one emotion whilst reading this book, and that was bored 😑 thankfully, I picked this one up at the library, so nothing lost, nothing gained.
On to better books 📚💖🌟
November 5, 2024
Not badly written, just so incredibly dull.
Read
December 28, 2024Tessa Hadley treats us to a closely observed novella of post-war life. I love novellas (this one started as a short story). Evelyn and Moira have desires they don’t yet fully understand. They’re on the cusp of adulthood and in a single evening tumble headfirst into it. The three parts are each perfect constructions. Hadley is a master of fiction in all its forms.
December 31, 2024
2.5 stars. Not really for me. This is about two sisters in 1940s Bristol who get invited to their first huge party and experience something which both bonds them and traumatises them. It read more like a historical fiction book to me than literary fiction and I don't really like historical novels at all so I wasn't really fussed about this. The characters were good but the writing and setting just didn't do it for me and so can't say I loved this although there was nothing wrong with it, just personally not to my taste.
November 3, 2024
A novella set in postwar Bristol about two sisters who go to a party at an old dockside pub where they meet a couple of upper class men. I read this novella in two sittings, it’s a coming of age story for both sisters with the post war atmosphere, their family problems (Dad has a woman on the side) and the obvious class differences setting the scene. I enjoyed the read.
January 14, 2025
3 ⭐
I purchased this solely based on the cover and was left quite disappointed with the story. Synopsis sounded promising but execution fell flat for me.
The Party is a novella set in 1940s Bristol and features two sisters attending their 1st big party.
Characters were ok but writing style and setting just didn't work for me.
Atmospheric at times but story was just a little dull for me.
I purchased this solely based on the cover and was left quite disappointed with the story. Synopsis sounded promising but execution fell flat for me.
The Party is a novella set in 1940s Bristol and features two sisters attending their 1st big party.
Characters were ok but writing style and setting just didn't work for me.
Atmospheric at times but story was just a little dull for me.
October 13, 2024
I hoped this would be in the same category as the novellas of Claire Keegan, but I’m afraid it wasn’t. It isn’t bad, it’s okay.
Thank you Penguin Random House UK and Netgalley UK for the ARC.
Thank you Penguin Random House UK and Netgalley UK for the ARC.
November 27, 2024
You can count on Tessa Hadley for atmospheric, sophisticated stories of familial and romantic relationships in mid- to late-twentieth-century England. The Party is a novella of sisters Moira and Evelyn, university students on the cusp of womanhood. In 1950s Bristol, the Second World War casts a long shadow and new conflicts loom – Moira’s former beau was sent to Malaya. Suave as they try to seem, with Evelyn peppering her speech with the phrases she’s learning in the first year of her French degree, the girls can’t hide their origins in the Northeast. When Evelyn joins Moira at an art students’ party in a pub, fashionable outfits make them look older and more confident than they really are. Evelyn admits to her classmate, Donald, “I’m always disappointed at parties. I long to be, you know, a succès fou, but I never am.” Then the sisters meet Paul and Sinden, who flatter them by taking an interest; they are attracted to the men’s worldly wise air but also find them oddly odious.
The novella’s three chapters each revolve around a party. First is the Bristol dockside pub party (published as a short story in the New Yorker); second is a cocktail party the girls’ parents are preparing for, giving us a window onto their troubled marriage; finally is a gathering Paul invites them to at the shabby inherited mansion he lives in with his cousin, invalid brother, and louche sister. “We camp in it like kids,” Paul says. “Just playing at being grown up, you know.” During their night spent at the mansion, the sisters become painfully aware of the class difference between them and Paul’s moneyed family. The divide between innocence and experience may be sharp, but the line between love and hatred is not always as clear as they expected. And from moments of decision all the rest of life flows.
In her novels and story collections, Hadley often writes about strained families, young women on the edge, and the way sex can force a change in direction. This was my eighth time reading her, and though The Party is as stylish as all her work, it didn’t particularly stand out for me, lacking the depth of her novels and the concentration of her stories. Still, it would be a good introduction to Hadley or, if you’re an established fan like me, you could read it in a sitting and be reminded of her sharp eye for manners and pretensions – and the emotions they mask.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
The novella’s three chapters each revolve around a party. First is the Bristol dockside pub party (published as a short story in the New Yorker); second is a cocktail party the girls’ parents are preparing for, giving us a window onto their troubled marriage; finally is a gathering Paul invites them to at the shabby inherited mansion he lives in with his cousin, invalid brother, and louche sister. “We camp in it like kids,” Paul says. “Just playing at being grown up, you know.” During their night spent at the mansion, the sisters become painfully aware of the class difference between them and Paul’s moneyed family. The divide between innocence and experience may be sharp, but the line between love and hatred is not always as clear as they expected. And from moments of decision all the rest of life flows.
In her novels and story collections, Hadley often writes about strained families, young women on the edge, and the way sex can force a change in direction. This was my eighth time reading her, and though The Party is as stylish as all her work, it didn’t particularly stand out for me, lacking the depth of her novels and the concentration of her stories. Still, it would be a good introduction to Hadley or, if you’re an established fan like me, you could read it in a sitting and be reminded of her sharp eye for manners and pretensions – and the emotions they mask.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
April 21, 2025
Moira and Evelyn, two sisters on the verge of adulthood, head for a night out in post-war Bristol. What they encounter both excites and repels them, and they are forced into entering a new chapter in their lives.
I've read Tessa Hadley's work before and loved it (especially The Past) but I wasn't quite so enamored with this one. It's too short, for one thing. Not a complaint I usually have, but the story felt insubstantial. We were just digging into the complex relationship between the two girls and also their unhappy family life, when it all ended. Hadley's writing credentials are in no doubt but this one left me unsatisfied - it is too slight for me recommend.
I've read Tessa Hadley's work before and loved it (especially The Past) but I wasn't quite so enamored with this one. It's too short, for one thing. Not a complaint I usually have, but the story felt insubstantial. We were just digging into the complex relationship between the two girls and also their unhappy family life, when it all ended. Hadley's writing credentials are in no doubt but this one left me unsatisfied - it is too slight for me recommend.
June 1, 2025
A multilayered novella featuring two sisters on the verge of adulthood, the clandestine parties, drinking, men, music, there's surprisingly a lot happening in The Party.
Tessa Hadley writes with ease about the post-war period. Her characters are vivid and painted with detail. There is a lot that Hadley managed to pack into that novella.
Overall, a good read.
Tessa Hadley writes with ease about the post-war period. Her characters are vivid and painted with detail. There is a lot that Hadley managed to pack into that novella.
Overall, a good read.
December 12, 2024
One review referred to Hadley’s writing as “daringly old-fashioned.” Thank fucking God for that. I love her writing precisely because of its old-fashioned qualities. And is it daring? The publishing industry loves its trends and patterns, and is dominated by a small number of large corporate entities, so yeah I guess it is daring to be old-fashioned.
The Party is a novella composed of three parts or chapters, and each could be read as a standalone short story. The first chapter, Vincent’s Party, was written as a story and published in The New Yorker. At first I don’t think Hadley had any intention to extend it, but over time she did go back and continue writing about the lives of the sisters Evelyn and Moira, and we got this longer work. It’s interesting because I feel like everything that came later, the further details we get about the sisters in the next two parts, everything they do, how they handle their new experiences, all existed in kernel-form in Vincent’s Party. She wrote so well about them, their portraits were so convincing, that I could easily see a novel in it. Those are some of my favourite character-driven short stories: when you can see the novel inside them, rendering the extension into a novel unnecessary. While for a lot of readers it’s the reason they can’t get into the short story—“I wish it were longer, it left me wanting more, it just scratched the surface”—it is exactly the reason I love them. I would have been happy for Evelyn and Moira to have stayed within the pages of Vincent’s Party, but I did also love this extension – Hadley kept it tight.
Hadley’s in top form in this book. It’s a great place to start for readers who are interested or curious about her and haven’t tried her yet. It’s all here, the understanding and precise articulation of the inner lives of her characters, the sharp eye on class, the stylish, excellent prose, the sensuous descriptions of place and nature. It’s gorgina.
The Party is a novella composed of three parts or chapters, and each could be read as a standalone short story. The first chapter, Vincent’s Party, was written as a story and published in The New Yorker. At first I don’t think Hadley had any intention to extend it, but over time she did go back and continue writing about the lives of the sisters Evelyn and Moira, and we got this longer work. It’s interesting because I feel like everything that came later, the further details we get about the sisters in the next two parts, everything they do, how they handle their new experiences, all existed in kernel-form in Vincent’s Party. She wrote so well about them, their portraits were so convincing, that I could easily see a novel in it. Those are some of my favourite character-driven short stories: when you can see the novel inside them, rendering the extension into a novel unnecessary. While for a lot of readers it’s the reason they can’t get into the short story—“I wish it were longer, it left me wanting more, it just scratched the surface”—it is exactly the reason I love them. I would have been happy for Evelyn and Moira to have stayed within the pages of Vincent’s Party, but I did also love this extension – Hadley kept it tight.
Hadley’s in top form in this book. It’s a great place to start for readers who are interested or curious about her and haven’t tried her yet. It’s all here, the understanding and precise articulation of the inner lives of her characters, the sharp eye on class, the stylish, excellent prose, the sensuous descriptions of place and nature. It’s gorgina.
September 6, 2024
3.5
After how mad we all went for Claire Keegan's Small Things Like These, wintery novellas are certainly very in right now, and I'll admit - I want one every year! But is The Party as good? Sadly not.
I absolutely loved the first half - two sisters Moira and Evelyn sneak off to a party on a winter's night in post-war Bristol. The dockside pub is full of bodies on the dance floor, in full sway to the live jazz band, whilst everyone is drunk on revolting homemade cider. Evelyn watches as her older sister gets all of the attention, craving some for herself. It's there they meet two men, with a Bentley parked outside, they're clearly not at home in this working class environment.
If the novella had stayed at this dockside pub this could easily have been a 4-5 star read for me. Hadley's writing is full of rich descriptions and really brings to life this era in Bristol. But the second half sees the sisters head off to a gathering at a mansion belonging to one of the men, and with clear echoes of the film Saltburn at times, it completely lost me with a cast of dull, rich and hollow characters I felt I'd met 100 times before. What follows isn't exactly Christmas novella material either. I'm gutted as there was so much to love about this. Even the ending was exquisite.
After how mad we all went for Claire Keegan's Small Things Like These, wintery novellas are certainly very in right now, and I'll admit - I want one every year! But is The Party as good? Sadly not.
I absolutely loved the first half - two sisters Moira and Evelyn sneak off to a party on a winter's night in post-war Bristol. The dockside pub is full of bodies on the dance floor, in full sway to the live jazz band, whilst everyone is drunk on revolting homemade cider. Evelyn watches as her older sister gets all of the attention, craving some for herself. It's there they meet two men, with a Bentley parked outside, they're clearly not at home in this working class environment.
If the novella had stayed at this dockside pub this could easily have been a 4-5 star read for me. Hadley's writing is full of rich descriptions and really brings to life this era in Bristol. But the second half sees the sisters head off to a gathering at a mansion belonging to one of the men, and with clear echoes of the film Saltburn at times, it completely lost me with a cast of dull, rich and hollow characters I felt I'd met 100 times before. What follows isn't exactly Christmas novella material either. I'm gutted as there was so much to love about this. Even the ending was exquisite.
November 3, 2024
A novella about two sisters who go to a party and meet some boys. The message of the story seems to be ‘it’s okay if men treat us badly because it makes us appear desirable and mysterious.’ Besides enjoying the sisterly relationship between the two protagonists, I have little positive to say about this book.
Thank you to Random House UK via NetGalley for providing me with the ARC of this novella.
Thank you to Random House UK via NetGalley for providing me with the ARC of this novella.
June 22, 2025
Set in post-war Bristol, this is a short novella about two young sisters. The first part is set at the titular ‘party’ which takes place in a grimy pub in an area of the docks that has suffered a lot of bomb damage.
Evelyn, the older sister, is in her first year at university, though naive and inexperienced in life. She sneaks out of her parents home to attend a student party, and her sister Moira, two years older and more confident, is in already there.
In the second part, the sisters are invited to a sprawling and neglected mansion in Bristol’s suburbs by a man they met at the party, where they meet an unsavoury assortment of guests drinking hard and playing parlour games.
The strength of the novella is in its descriptions of 1950s Bristol. Though it may be described as feminist in its nature, its is quite depressing, and would have benefitted from some humour from time to time, even if of the dark variety. I was reminded of the writing of Barbara Comyns, though Comyns does have that knack of the insertion of dark humour at exactly the right time.
Evelyn, the older sister, is in her first year at university, though naive and inexperienced in life. She sneaks out of her parents home to attend a student party, and her sister Moira, two years older and more confident, is in already there.
In the second part, the sisters are invited to a sprawling and neglected mansion in Bristol’s suburbs by a man they met at the party, where they meet an unsavoury assortment of guests drinking hard and playing parlour games.
The strength of the novella is in its descriptions of 1950s Bristol. Though it may be described as feminist in its nature, its is quite depressing, and would have benefitted from some humour from time to time, even if of the dark variety. I was reminded of the writing of Barbara Comyns, though Comyns does have that knack of the insertion of dark humour at exactly the right time.
October 6, 2024
A great read for those who appreciate character-driven stories. The novel dives deep into the complexities of young adulthood, with characters struggling to find themselves amidst the chaos of life. Themes of sex, envy, and perceptions of adulthood are woven throughout, giving the story emotional depth and making it easy to connect with the characters' personal journeys.
March 17, 2025
A slight, tightly observed novella of post-war life. Sisters on the edge of adulthood in an uncertain world. Hadley masters the unsaid, and this brief narrative is full of nuance. Wonderful writing, I wanted more but I think its beauty is in its brevity.
December 31, 2024
Hadley says in the acknowledgements that ‘this [novella] fell into [her] lap and [she] couldn’t not write it’. I’m really curious as to what in this novella needed so desperately to be said.
November 12, 2024
Tessa Hadley has become a must-read author for me. Her seemingly effortless prose and ability to get to the heart of human relationships is irresistible. The Party is a novella grown out of a short story (the first chapter, Vincent’s Party, was originally published as a story in the New Yorker). Set in a bomb-damaged Bristol shortly after the end of the Second World War, the book follows a defining few days in the lives of two sisters, Moira and Evelyn, as they move into adulthood. The story is bookended by two parties; the first in a seedy dockland pub, popular with students and jazz fans, the second at a house in one of the more affluent parts of the city and hosted by two young men the sisters met at the first. Moira and Evelyn learn lessons about themselves and the potential dangers of the journey into the adult world on which they are just embarking.
The UK Jonathan Cape hardback edition of The Party is a thing of beauty with a gorgeous cover illustration and design.
The UK Jonathan Cape hardback edition of The Party is a thing of beauty with a gorgeous cover illustration and design.
January 15, 2025
A series of events set over a few days between two sisters who meet two men at a party.
Post war class divisions, gender politics , future life aspirations, sibling rivalry all explored in this succinct novella.
One of those books that leaves you thinking if you should have found something more profound within the story
Post war class divisions, gender politics , future life aspirations, sibling rivalry all explored in this succinct novella.
One of those books that leaves you thinking if you should have found something more profound within the story
November 15, 2024
I’ve had more fun reading old receipts
November 22, 2024
I enjoyed this so much more than I expected to. Had some of Claire Keegan’s elegance to its sparsity. Very sweet little novella, would be nice to cosy up with for an evening.
February 21, 2025
So good that I’m convinced the short story / novella is the only way to communicate the truth of the human experience. What a brutal brilliant thing it is to be a girl 100/10
July 2, 2025
The writing is beautiful, but what was the point of this story?
December 12, 2024
The first chapter of this novella was published as a short story in The New Yorker, which gives you an inkling of what it’s like. Those stories often appear overworked. They have a self-consciousness that can make them hard to read. You don’t read them for entertainment but to find out what is expected of MFA graduates these days.
That the opening chapter can stand alone as a short story also tells you something. You can stop there and feel you have given this writer her due. It is a bit like reading a poem. You are fascinated by the phraseology and the rhythm of the sentences. The plot, such as it is, is just background. What you are there for is the language, which is as precise and poised as Josephine LaPalma, an incidental character who works as a nude model at the art college in Bristol.
The two sisters, Moira and Evelyn, who are at the centre of the story are not quite as poised as Josephine. They are still trying to find their way and only get the attention they crave after Josephine leaves the pub where one of their friends is hosting a party.
The story is set in Bristol in the 1950s. The student crowd to whom we’re introduced are all jazz enthusiasts. Moira, the older sister, is an art student, while Evelyn is studying French and is more comfortable with Racine and Baudelaire than with any of the men in the pub. Moira is ready to offer herself to every man she meets, even the ugly Sinden, who she flirts with but can’t bring herself to like.
The first chapter is setting the scene, showing how the two sisters navigate their encounters with men in different ways. I liked it. There is something very English about it, which is a quality you don’t often find in The New Yorker.
The middle chapter gives us a glimpse of the sisters’ home life and deepens our understanding of them. The story drags somewhat in this chapter and includes some of the least convincing details. The writing loses intensity and is more functional than poetic.
The momentum returns in the third and final chapter. The writing here has more energy, drawing us deeply into the predicament of the two sisters, especially Evelyn, who is a reluctant participant in events. I became anxious for her, fearing a disastrous outcome.
My connection to the story became personal, not merely because, like Evelyn, I had studied Andromaque and Phèdre at Bristol, or because the tale concludes in Carwardines, the coffee house where my friends and I often gathered after lectures. Rather, it is because Tessa Hadley gets the details, the tone, and the point of view exactly right. Neither sentimental nor too detached, but balanced impeccably in between, the aloof poise of the first two chapters becomes, finally, an impersonal objectivity that lets the story speak for itself.
“Tessa Hadley recruits admirers with each book,” declares Hilary Mantel on the back cover. In my case this is exactly right. After finishing the book I immediately turned to the first page and started again, enjoying it more because I was now seeing beneath the surface.
That the opening chapter can stand alone as a short story also tells you something. You can stop there and feel you have given this writer her due. It is a bit like reading a poem. You are fascinated by the phraseology and the rhythm of the sentences. The plot, such as it is, is just background. What you are there for is the language, which is as precise and poised as Josephine LaPalma, an incidental character who works as a nude model at the art college in Bristol.
“She settled herself at ease as if she were posing, presenting her head in its dramatic profile, rugged and magnificent as a ship’s figurehead.”
The two sisters, Moira and Evelyn, who are at the centre of the story are not quite as poised as Josephine. They are still trying to find their way and only get the attention they crave after Josephine leaves the pub where one of their friends is hosting a party.
The story is set in Bristol in the 1950s. The student crowd to whom we’re introduced are all jazz enthusiasts. Moira, the older sister, is an art student, while Evelyn is studying French and is more comfortable with Racine and Baudelaire than with any of the men in the pub. Moira is ready to offer herself to every man she meets, even the ugly Sinden, who she flirts with but can’t bring herself to like.
The first chapter is setting the scene, showing how the two sisters navigate their encounters with men in different ways. I liked it. There is something very English about it, which is a quality you don’t often find in The New Yorker.
The middle chapter gives us a glimpse of the sisters’ home life and deepens our understanding of them. The story drags somewhat in this chapter and includes some of the least convincing details. The writing loses intensity and is more functional than poetic.
The momentum returns in the third and final chapter. The writing here has more energy, drawing us deeply into the predicament of the two sisters, especially Evelyn, who is a reluctant participant in events. I became anxious for her, fearing a disastrous outcome.
My connection to the story became personal, not merely because, like Evelyn, I had studied Andromaque and Phèdre at Bristol, or because the tale concludes in Carwardines, the coffee house where my friends and I often gathered after lectures. Rather, it is because Tessa Hadley gets the details, the tone, and the point of view exactly right. Neither sentimental nor too detached, but balanced impeccably in between, the aloof poise of the first two chapters becomes, finally, an impersonal objectivity that lets the story speak for itself.
“Tessa Hadley recruits admirers with each book,” declares Hilary Mantel on the back cover. In my case this is exactly right. After finishing the book I immediately turned to the first page and started again, enjoying it more because I was now seeing beneath the surface.
January 10, 2026
Eine Geschichte die mittendrin beginnt und endet - es ist ziemlich gut geschrieben und hat es einem nicht schwer gemacht zu lesen. Außerdem liebe ich das Cover!! Tatsächlich hab ich nicht so ganz verstanden, wo mich das Buch hinführen wollte? Aber abgeholt hat es mich trotzdem, vor allem die Dynamik der zwei ungleichen Schwestern die am Ende garnicht so ungleich sind.
February 20, 2025
1.5
Ik viel in slaap, zo een saai boek dat in mijn ogen nergens op slaat en nergens heen ging
Ik viel in slaap, zo een saai boek dat in mijn ogen nergens op slaat en nergens heen ging
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