Thanks to NetGalley and Bedford Square Publishers for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a sharp, strange little novel about a woman in her mid-twenties who moves back in with her parents and becomes fixated on cleaning. That quiet obsession slowly pulls her into an unexpected world—posing nude in a gallery and meeting a woman who changes the course of her life.

I really liked the stream-of-consciousness writing. It’s fast-paced, a bit chaotic, and fits the headspace of someone lost in that post-uni, pre-adulthood fog. The narrator is messy and impulsive but relatable. I found myself rooting for her even when I didn’t fully understand her choices.

Some plot points felt a bit random or unresolved, but overall, it worked. It’s funny, reflective, and captures that early-20s sense of drifting. A quick, enjoyable read that doesn’t try too hard to be deep—it just is.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bedford Square Publishers for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A woman in her mid-twenties moves back home to live with her parents, where her listlessness fuels an obsession with cleaning, and sets in motion a series of events that lead to her posing as a model in a nude gallery where she encounters a woman whose life will intertwine with her own.

This was a fun read! I enjoyed the fast-paced, stream of consciousness narrative and really warmed to the protagonist and felt invested in every part of her life, even when she was making strange and questionable choices at parts. The book has humour and heart and does a great job at conveying the listlessness of being in your early 20s, post-graduation, desperately trying to find meaning in your days.

It took unexpected turns and did have some random plot points that felt strangely inconsequential but for the most part it’s an enjoyable, quick read that I wolfed down in one evening. It definitely has its place in the wider universe of 20s coming of age literature, and I would say is a strong example of how to nail that genre because the book feels honest, and not like it’s trying to be something it’s not.

wow
i love stream-of-consciousness book ESPECIALLY when the main character is a little bit (to say the least) troubled with their life
sex, love, drugs and, obviously, cleaning
I saw myself multiple times through the mc, don't know if it's a good thing or not...

thank you netgalley for the copy

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for sending an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book kind of missed the mark for me and I think I was expecting something different. It's narrated as a stream of consciousness, the kind that incorporates spoken dialogue into the text and doesn't use quote marks, which is not my favourite thing.
The main character gets herself in such absurd situations and it's a bit weird how this is presented to the reader as being absolutely normal. I don't want to give details that would be spoilers, I can only say it comes across like the main character has no agency whatsoever. Things happen TO her all the time as if she can't influence any of it when actually she should be able to. The stream of consciousness narration doesn't address this either, or reflect on it. We're expected to accept it but this is not how real human beings behave. If the author was looking to create a character that is just passive through every event in her life, then I suppose they succeeded but this makes the experience of reading this novel very frustrating.

An interesting debut from a clearly talented writer
One long paragraph takes you on a stream of consciousness narrative of the eponymous cleaner
A real exhausting journey which you’ll be compelled to read in one sitting

This book follows a woman adrift in her mid-twenties, spiralling into obsessive cleaning while living back home with her parents. Then comes the nude gallery gig, a mysterious woman, and a slow unravelling of identity, desire, and disillusionment.

Cleaner is a raw and absorbing Literary novel of life after university. We follow an unnamed narrator who returns home to her parents while grappling with depression and uncertainty about the future. She soon discovers that cleaning offers her a sense of control and purpose, though this coping mechanism quickly grows into an obsession. Taking on multiple cleaning jobs, she eventually finds herself working at an art gallery, where she meets Isabella, a captivating, free-spirited artist who soon becomes the focus of her fixation.

What makes Cleaner especially striking is its form in which the novel unfolds in one unbroken paragraph. This stylistic choice cleverly reflects the protagonist’s unsettled state of mind and reflecting her life without clear boundaries or easy pauses, where everything blurs together. It’s messy, queer, darkly humorous, and often painfully relatable. While the narrative can feel meandering at times, that seems intentional, and the one-paragraph style can be overwhelming but it did mean I read it all in one day!

The 'stream of consciousness' writing style took a while for me to get used to, but it also really suited the narration by the main character and gave an insight into her thought processes as she navigated some pretty messy, complex situations after meeting Isabella.

There were moments throughout that made me pause and smile at the unexpected humour despite some overall darker tones and themes in the book.

I will definitely keep an eye out for more by Jess Shannon in the future.

Thank you for the review copy!

Cleaner by Jess Shannon, publishing 28th August 2025 in the UK.

A non-stop, erratic, raw, funny, full-circle examination of being lost in your twenties. As a girl in my twenties this is eerily relatable and equally outlandish, just the perfect concoction.

In this book we follow the narrator as she navigates life after moving back in with her parents. She develops an obsession with cleaning, a talent for wandering and a new love interest. Through her varyingly unhinged interactions and as a result of her lack of life path everything starts getting a bit strange... you will be hooked! I did not want to put this book down for anything.

Themes: adulting, loneliness, sexuality, individuality, obsession, mental health.

Perfect for fans of: Everyone I Know Is Dying (Emily Slapper) and This Immaculate Body (Emma van Straaten).

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC of this title.

Comparisons to Fleabag are overdone, but I do think in this case I can make a strong argument for it. In the same vein as Fleabag, Cleaner is messy and dark, self-aware of its format, and toes the line between the mundane and the absurd with wild abandon.

The main character is an unnamed woman in her mid-twenties, bouncing between jobs and barrelling between friendships and relationships with full force. She has a sort of detachment and birds-eye view of her life which makes her a very compelling narrator, even if her prime motivation is to narrativise her life rather than to make any significant changes or decisions on her own terms. (I know that “narrativise” isn’t a word, but I couldn’t think of a better one!)

The book is written without speech marks, chapter breaks, or paragraphs. While I’m usually opposed to books that don’t use speech marks, in this instance I did think it was very effective, and added to this sense that we might have an unreliable narrator. I would have quite liked to have paragraphs, as it was quite hard to follow and I often had to go back and reread a page or so to remind myself what was going on. I did understand why the author chose to do that though, and it did help achieve the effect I think she was going for.

This is a really strong debut novel, that’s not afraid to experiment and to go outside the box.

I received a free copy for an honest review.

Written as a continuous stream of consciousness, Cleaner follows an unnamed narrator as she moves back in with her parents and resolves to fix her aimlessness by finding work that satisfies her newfound obsession with cleaning, despite her academic accolades and qualifications. After a bathroom encounter with a woman at her new workplace, the two women’s lives become intertwined.

The narrative style, though disorienting at times, works well in mirroring the chaotic and unpredictable nature of a young woman’s grapple with loneliness and disillusion. The novel has a charming, relatable yet surreal quality, and its writing style (though it takes some getting used to) lends itself to an immersive and wryly entertaining story.

A woman in her mid-twenties moves back home to live with her parents, where her listlessness fuels an obsession with cleaning, and sets in motion a series of events that lead to her posing as a model in a nude gallery where she encounters a woman whose life will intertwine with her own.

A realistic, relatable depiction of how messy and complicated life can be. The writing is so interesting and, while it made it somewhat hard to follow at times, it also made it truly captivating, and quite literally impossible to put this book down; it is a stream of consciousness, not afraid to experiment and explore. It's such a quick, fast-paced read, perfect to sit down and binge in a lazy day.

A stream-of-consciousness story of a queer woman’s life after graduation as she moves back with her parents. We follow her as her life takes unexpected turns and tumbles, following a chance meeting with another woman during her work as a cleaner.

She became obsessed with cleaning after moving back into her parents’ house and then takes jobs as a cleaner. Meeting another artist in the bathroom of an art gallery and partaking in cocaine and having sex with her all still in the same bathroom, seemed like an inciting incident that would drive the rest of the story. However, what followed was not what I had expected. I can’t say it was bad, but just that it was strange and rather authentic in ways.

It was a depiction of the messy, complicated, and detached life of a present-day individual. I feel like it could count as a coming-of-age of sorts, as her character is being shaped as we read the story.

There are two major complaints I can point out. First, is the crime and murder following the main character without any actual impact in the story or her character. And the second is the ending.

The writing style, while complex and at times hard to follow, was interesting and exciting. It is going to be a fun read for readers who enjoy the so-called “weird girl books”.

Cleaner follows a woman who moves back in with her parents and becomes obsessed with cleaning, reflecting on feeling lost and lonely in your twenties. It’s written in a conversational style which isn’t afraid to experiment, with prose which is fast-paced and meandering, bringing across a strong character voice. There were some fantastic descriptions and clever references which made this a vibrant and memorable read, and I loved how modern it felt.

Because of the style, I did feel like it was difficult to get a handle on what was happening, with the narrator moving from topic to topic without stopping. It immerses you in the character’s head in a stream of consciousness style, which was great for making this very relatable and realistic, but meant the narrative did lose some of its impact.

If you’re looking for a fast-paced, character-led novel with a unique and relevant writing style, I’d definitely recommend picking this up.

“Cleaner” follows an unnamed narrator, who has found herself living back at her parents’ house (even though they’re not that keen on having her there, and keener on moving in a Ukrainian refugee). She is wondering what to do next with her life when she discovers a passion for cleaning that leads her - through a series of apparently passively-made decisions - to pose as a nude model and then become obsessed with an artist - Isabella - who makes a sketch of her.

The book reads like a fever dream as she calmly narrates her very unpredictable and sometimes bafflingly unlikely actions as she tries to find Isabella again. It reminded me of Halle Butler’s “The New Me” in that way. It is wry and amusing but there’s a heart of something darker. An enjoyable read.

Cleaner by Jess Shannon is a debut novel worth reading - a realistically flawed but relatable narrator struggling to work out what she wants to do.