Small Comfort
Longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026
by Ia Genberg
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Pub Date 12 Mar 2026 | Archive Date 31 Mar 2026
Headline | Wildfire
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Description
'You know, love is love, he says. But what about the revolution?'
Intricately built and wickedly humorous, these five interconnected short stories are all about one thing: money.
From an interview with a child star turned thief to the mysterious death of an employee at a drug manufacturer - or the couple feigning married bliss to keep their inheritance, Small Comfort carefully unravels the value we place on both money and people.
What does it really mean to be in debt to someone? How does our financial worth permeate the ways we think and feel? And what do we lose when we supposedly win? Small Comfort skewers its characters, slyly implicating the reader along the way.
A brilliantly original and thought-provoking collection from the author and translator of The Details, shortlisted for the 2024 International Booker Prize.
Praise for The Details:
'Miraculous' Hernan Diaz, author of Trust
'I wish I could write like this' Fredrik Backman, author of A Man Called Ove
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781035433940 |
| PRICE | £12.99 (GBP) |
| PAGES | 384 |
Available on NetGalley
Average rating from 27 members
Featured Reviews
Small Comfort, Ia Genberg, tr. Kira Joseffson
Genberg’s previous book - The Details - was ideal for listening in audio. Small Comfort is more of a book to read with eyes: there are 5 loosely connected stories, though I prefer to think about this work as of an disintegrated novel, with characters entangled in their relationships with money.
Genberg plays with form and I guess some readers might love it more than others: there’s an interview (with the author’s alter ego - quite brave), a wedding speech, an email, a draft of psychological experiment, phone notes of ideas for a really good crime thriller. I enjoyed this diversity. It worked pretty well to look at money, wealth, class differences from many different angles.
I was an exciting read. I’m really curious if the International Booker judges would consider it (is it too close to Natasha Brown’s own book?)
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