Family dysfunction with humour. Deft, smart and brilliant Lost Lambs may be the read of the summer! I loved this brilliant novel.

I’ve not read anything like this before, what a joy of a story. The writing was incredibly engaging and had me laughing and smiling to myself, Cash writes with a clever undertone that makes the entire book feel flippant and funny. The multiple POVs really draws you in and makes this book impossible to put down, while I initially loved the sisters’ chapters, I grew to love Bud’s too. The plot was so crazy and completely unbelievable but I loved it. The final chapter was a surprisingly emotional one, but still a perfect summary of this story. A weird, topsy turvey, unconventional story!

This was a really interesting book, quite unlike anything I've ever read.
Each of the characters was flawed, funny and in some way relatable.
You're pulled into this bizarre household, where you slowly get to know each family member individually and how their relationships with each other function.
At some points I was screaming at the characters, I was that invested.
Ridiculous but fun!

A brilliant debut and one crazy ride that had me laughing out loud and needing more. I couldn't put this down and really enjoyed the story and characters. A great portrait of family life and the crazy things that can happen in family units.

Funny, wierd and twisty book that i sped through. The multiple pov of all the members was great as we got to see them all for who they were. Flawed, unlikeable but can't help rooting for them.

This was a bit of a weird one for me as it's a genre i'm not typically familiar with. The writing was super easy to read, and felt really relatable oddly with the different characters. I wasn't totally into it though, as I didn't find a great deal actually happened before the big "reveal" at the end which seemed a bizarre turn of events that didn't fit with the book. But I did weirdly enjoy it despite all this. Madeline's writing is very easy and I'll be picking up more from her in the future

Cash’s novel follows the supremely dysfunctional Flynn family shortly after Catherine, frustrated with her life as a stay-at-home mother, unilaterally declares her marriage open. She and Bud have three daughters, running amok now that she’s turned her back on domesticity: 17-year-old Abigail has fallen for a taciturn ex-mercenary; Louise is flattered by the chatroom ‘boyfriend’ urging her to buy large amounts of fertiliser and Harper, a precocious 11-year-old, too clever for her own good as her mother frequently tells her. With Bud sleeping in his minivan, Father Andrew suggests he attends the Lost Lambs self-help group little knowing he’s sowing the seeds for another extramarital relationship. Meanwhile, Bud notices something odd in the Alabaster Harbour accounts for which he's responsible, War Crimes Wes worries about youth-obsessed, tech billionaire Paul Alabaster’s interest in Abigail and Harper becomes convinced that the town’s local art installation is a spying device.

There’s a lot of wise-cracking, sardonic humour in Cash’s novel which appeals to me but may not suit everyone. The novel takes a dark turn about two-thirds of the way through as an apparently ridiculous conspiracy theory turns out to be true and nefarious dealings are uncovered. Not an entirely successful change of direction for me but I’d enjoyed the first part enough to go along with it and was rewarded with an ending which sees the dysfunctional Flynn family expanded, happier and more diverse. An entertaining romp with a multitude of barbs tossed at modern life.

Wife decides on an open marriage which creates turmoil in the whole family.
It sounded vaguely interesting, but after sticking with it for 20% of the book, I was thoroughly bored and abandoned ship. The many auto-generated typos
(extermignate, dognate, termignate, unfortugnate gnaturally etc) did not help either. Cute cover, though.

After deciding she wants more from life, Catherine suggests an open marriage. This has the effect of breaking the family apart. However, the actions of the local nefarious billionaire brings them all back together again to celebrate Harper’s 13th birthday.
This book made me laugh so many times. It also went off in a different direction to what you thought it was going, thanks to Abigail’s actions. The coming together of all the plot lines involved concluded with some very surprising revelations that the beginning of the book had only hinted at. The title itself referred to not only the church group Bud joined but probably also the girls at the billionaire’s house.
Highly recommended.

I loved Lost Lambs! It reminded me (and this is the highest compliment I can bestow) of The Simpsons. Nothing more to say, other than that I'm sure it's going to be huge!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This is so reminiscent of The Bee Sting by Paul Murray and for that I absolutely loved it. This is a story of the Flynn family, who are slowly falling apart following Catherine (mum) wanting to open up her marriage to Bud (Dad). We follow Catherine and Bud and their three daughters as they navigate this tumultuous time. Every member of the Flynn family is fundamentally flawed and this paints the most absurd picture of dysfunction and chaos.
I loved every weird twist and turn and although I didn’t “like” any of the characters, I loved them for their weirdness.
I am really looking forward to reading more from this author and will probably get the audiobook when it’s released next year.

Weird! Funny! Rude! The kind of relatability that makes you cringe yourself inside out until all your organs are on display for the world to see. A riotous new voice in fiction.

Hooked from the first page. "The gnat situation in the church was getting out of hand. It was Miss Winkle's fault...and this was unforgivable"

I loved the eccentric Flynn family situated in small town America written in such a visual way that I was carried along with them scene by scene. Thwarted artist inveigling her husband into an open marriage, three teenage daughters degenerating in their own ways. Add the magnate on the hill with masked male parties and young women, a veritable cliche of a priest along with being sentenced to attend The Lost Lambs group when you actually do the job you are paid for, auditing and questioning dodgy accounts and you have laugh out loud dark humour.

I absolutely loved this picture of a knotty US told through the lens of this idiosyncratic family.

With many thanks to #NetGalley and #RandomHouseUK for the opportunity to read and review

An absurd and original read. Flynn family are a recipe for disaster.
The dialogue was absolutely funny, and made me laugh out loud a few times, especially when Catherine and Bud have a conversation.
Will return to this to enjoy some of the jokes again.

Small town gossip, a marriage failing, teenage angst, conspiracy theories and a billionaire baddie. What’s not to love? This is written with tongue in cheek, but it is basically airing lots of truths about modern living, whilst being full of humour and charismatic characters. Bud knows his marriage is shaky, Catherine is regretful of her lost artistic life and the three daughters are in danger of drifting into dangerous situations, away from a loving but neglectful family. Meanwhile the family who own the town come under scrutiny. Lots of shenanigans, but heartfelt and a wonderfully entertaining book.

This played out like a soap, it's so funny, multi layered and evolved. A family for whom the word weird is the norm, a drama of sorts on every page but above all it's contemporary, believable. I loved it.

Well, if you think your family are dysfunctional wait till you read this. The Flynns are off the scale when it comes to not fitting in, being different. Interesting mix of personal journeys that show the difficulties I'm sure many families are going thru today.....

I really wanted to love this. The writing was skillful and stylish and the themes were cleverly chosen with good characterisation.
I think that the problem was with the humour, which is subjective. The humour felt too absurd and too relentlessly wisecracking for me. I barely laughed or felt much sense of amusement and it started to grate. I wouldn't offer this as a criticism of the book, though, but think of it more as a mismatched date where we'd chosen the wrong prospective partners.
It's a book I disliked but could admire and appreciate from an objective viewpoint.

This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. It takes off with speed, so you instantly understand that it will be a pleasure. It's funny as hell, and there is never a wasted word throughout. She's a new author to me, and I thought of George Saunders, Jonathan Franzen and Patricia Lockwood as I was reading, but the author's voice is entirely her own. There is an incredible sense of control over her story, and you are so invested in the characters. It's the first book I've considered reading again as soon as it ended, but I'm going to wait for the physical copy.

It’s been a weird time for the Flynn family ever since Catherine informed Bud she was opening up their marriage. Forget meals not being cooked, laundry not being done, and the house generally going to ruin: Catherine and Bud have far more pressing problems.

If only they would notice.

Their eldest, Abigail, is dating an ex-solider in his twenties known as War Crimes Wes; their youngest, Harper, is channelling her brilliant mind into conjuring up conspiracy theories about local port activities and spy devices being embedded in an art installation in the town; while their other daughter, Louise, is suffering from a bad case of overlooked-middle-child syndrome and is being radicalised online by a terrorist. What will happen when Harper’s conspiracy theories turn out to be a reality? Could this be the wake up call the Flynns need, and will it be enough to bring the family back together?

‘Lost Lambs’ was an utter joy to read. Delightfully dark. Humorous and heartwarming. From the first page, I knew I was in safe hands with this author: the writing is sharp and funny and brilliantly high-quality. I didn’t want to put the book down. Anyone who likes their characters feral and their stories chaotic and unhinged is sure to find this book highly entertaining.

It feels so authentic, too—the characters more real and relatable than those found in many other books I’ve read. Despite its zaniness—or perhaps because of it—the book manages to capture life and what it is to be human in all its chaotic and less than Insta-perfect forms. Part of the joy of the book is that it says the things we think but know we shouldn’t say. It made me feel guilty for laughing along with it, but at the same time it also made me feel seen and less alone.

If you’re thinking about reading ‘Lost Lambs’, don’t hesitate! I thoroughly recommend it. It is full of humour and the warmth and weirdness of family.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Madeline Cash and Random House UK for the ARC. My review will be posted on Instagram, Amazon UK, Goodreads and The StoryGraph near or on the publication date.