We’re absolute ecstatic, that after being shortlisted at the end of last year, that this unique, trend-setting book has won the Costa First Novel Award. A truly astounding achievement, which is absolutely deserved by this wonderful book and by Gail, an equally wonderful author.

 

2017 was a huge year for Gail Honeyman and her debut novel Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine: it became the bestselling hardback debut of the year, sold over 100,000 copies and was picked up for film by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello, Sunshine, and it’s incredible to see the success is continuing on to 2018.

 

We’ll have our fingers crossed for the Costa Book of the Year, which is announced on Tuesday 30th January.  In the meantime, we thought we’d remind ourselves of some of the reviews for the book that just keeps captivating hearts around the globe:

 

“Eleanor Oliphant is a truly original literary creation: funny, touching, and unpredictable. Her journey out of dark shadows is expertly woven and absolutely gripping.”
Jojo Moyes, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You

“I loved this novel. Honeyman’s light touch draws you into Eleanor’s funny, brave, and, at times, utterly devastating world. A story about the very worst and very best that humans are capable of, it somehow makes you laugh out loud whilst building a creeping sense of dread, and leaves you reeling at its spectacular twist. A truly impressive debut.”
Eleanor Wasserberg

“I adored it. The story is wonderful, the characters are perfect, but most of all, Eleanor is written with such incredible kindness. I struggle to think of a character who has meant more to me than Eleanor Oliphant. The writing is so skilled, so perceptive, Eleanor’s world will feel familiar to you from the very first page. An outstanding debut, and a serious contender for my book of the year. I can’t say enough good things about this novel!”
Jo Cannon

“A truly original voice and so good on loneliness: I sobbed and sobbed”
Cathy Rentzenbrink

“At times dark and poignant, at others bright and blissfully funny, Eleanor Oliphant is such an accomplished, wide-ranging novel. It’s a story about loneliness and friendship, and it’s also a careful study of abuse, buried grief and resilience. This is truly a debut to treasure.”
Gavin Extence

“I loved this book and thought the writing was impeccable. I fell in love with this old fashioned women living in the modern world. There was such sensitivity towards her experiences, by the end I just wanted Eleanor to be absolutely fine.”
Dawn O’Porter

“I have read a few great novels recently, but the one that stuck with me the most over the last few months if Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and the entire time I beamed with joy at the beauty of this story. I fell in love with Eleanor and never wanted the book to end. I wanted so badly to keep following her story.”
Krysten Ritter

“So powerful–I completely loved Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.”
Fiona Barton, New York Times bestselling author of The Widow

“Honeyman’s debut is a stunner, as buoyant and charming as it is heartwrenching and emotionally sophisticated. Poor Eleanor Oliphant–often clueless, at times maddening, but always fascinating–walks right off the page and into the reader’s heart. Not only is Eleanor Oliphant completely fine, she’s revelation.”
Jonathan Evison, author of This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance

“Oh I fucking loved this book during my month off. So brilliant. Sweet, dark, funny and so original.”
Sarah Pinborough

“Like a contemporary Jane Eyre, Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant is a woman scarred by profound loneliness, and the shadow of a harrowing childhood she can’t even bear to remember. Bit by bit, and with extraordinary courage, however, Eleanor begins peeling the layers of protective numbness, letting others near for the first time, and reaching for the life she hasn’t believed she deserves. Deft, compassionate and deeply moving–Honeyman’s debut will have you rooting for Eleanor with every turning page. I loved this story.”
Paula McClain, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife

“Eleanor Oliphant endears herself to the reader with her cantankerous charm and her disarmingly inscrutable voice. A compulsive, irresistible narrative that arcs toward compassion and light.”
Mona Awad, author of 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl

“Heartwrenching and wonderful!”
Nina Stibbe

“In an extraordinarily difficult year socially and politically, I cannot help picking a book that gave me immense joy. From page one, I had no idea where it was going, but I immediately loved Eleanor precisely for how difficult she was, how deliciously awkward in so many situations that made me laugh out loud at her rejection of social mores. Nothing prepared for the slow warming of her heart, and the way it blew her world wide open.”
Attica Locke

“Twenty pages in and I thought yep, I’ve met the odd Eleanor Oliphant along the way – the office misfit, the socially awkward loner with an apparent complete disregard for fashion or popular culture. And then, like all good books, the rug was pulled from under my feet. Inching further in, you meet a deeply likeable, highly intelligent and unknowingly witty young woman (who might be on to something, living in blissful ignorance of Jeremy Clarkson), who is, in fact, all too aware of her outsider status. This is a heart-wrenching look at modern loneliness (the new, unmentionable cancer, as Eleanor points out) and the presumptions we make about people, not to mention the far more troubling, darker undercurrent to her backstory. It’s so easy to view Eleanor just as the rest of the world does – but that’s the point and I defy you not to be her biggest fan by the end of the book.”
The Pool

“The neatest trick Gail Honeyman pulls off in her debut novel is to make readers love a character who goes so far out of her way to be unlovable: Eleanor Oliphant has no friends and seems to like it that way, reserving any affection she may bestow on other human beings for the bottles of vodka she relies on to drink herself to sleep at night. She’s as likable as unlikable protagonists get, a prickly loner who never met a person she couldn’t quell with a scathingly hilarious insult, but whose judgmental nature is clearly hiding a wounded core. Despite what both she and the book’s title will tell you, Eleanor is far from fine, and in a neat twist on the unreliable narrator trope, Honeyman subtly but methodically unpacks her protagonist’s mysterious traumatic past, adding shading and nuance to Eleanor’s unpleasant and occasionally obsessive behavior. It’s a tonal balancing act that she pulls off with aplomb, and makes Eleanor Oliphant the kind of book you’ll want to devour in a single sitting”
Vox – a Best Book of 2017

“This novel strikes such a beautiful and delicate balance between funny and heartbreaking and absolutely restores your faith in humanity. Though it’s only May, I’m calling it already; this is my book of the year.”
Red

“This is a narrative full of quiet warmth and deep and unspoken sadness. It makes you want to throw a party and invite everyone you know and give them a hug, even that person at work everyone thinks is a bit weird.”
The Guardian

“Unforgettable, brilliant, funny & life-affirming”
The Daily Mail

“Debut author Honeyman expertly captures a woman whose inner pain is excruciating and whose face and heart are scarred, but who still holds the capacity to love and be loved. Eleanor’s story will move readers.”
Publisher’s Weekly

“Eleanor Oliphant is actually not fine at all, but her story is hilarious and moving.”
People