People Person
From the bestselling author of Queenie and the writer of BBC’s Champion
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4.0 • 89 Ratings
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
People Person is a triumph. Caleb Azumah Nelson | Wonderful. Marian Keyes | I loved it. Sara Collins
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE BRITISH BOOK AWARD WINNING AUTHOR OF QUEENIE
If you could choose your family, you wouldn't choose the Penningtons
Dimple, Nikisha, Danny, Lizzie and Prynce are half-siblings who don't have much in common except abandonment issues. But when a catastrophic event forces them to reconnect with each other and with Cyril Pennington, the absent father they never really knew, things start to get complicated fast . . .
People Person is a propulsive story of heart, humour and homecoming, about the true nature of family and the complexities of belonging.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
From the author:“I’d written a whole other novel called People Person, and it was about a group of friends and the people person in question was the strong friend, because I’m always aware that the strong friend is always carrying everyone else’s s**t, but people rarely ask how they are, and that is really hard. But then also at the same time, I was having a conversation with my big half-sister. We’ve got a sick relationship. We talk every single day. My dad has nine kids so I’ve got about nine half-siblings and loads of step-siblings. I’ve got so many all the time, everywhere. I suddenly thought: ‘What would happen if something happened to me, if someone came to, I don’t know, bad me up or something?’ And my sister just said, ‘Well, we would all just get together and handle it.’ As soon as I had that conversation with her, my brain was turning. I sat down one night in the corner of my sofa. I never used to write on the sofa. I used to write in bed, but I just opened up a new document, and then at 6am in the morning, I emerged and I’d written 10,000 words of the opening of what People Person is now. I think writing the book helped me figure out my dad stuff.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Carty-Williams's underwhelming sophomore effort (after Queenie) follows five London siblings and half siblings who were raised by their mothers, and hardly glimpsed their father, Jamaican playboy bus driver Cyril Pennington. As adults, they've gone their separate ways, never having cause to interact, much less build meaningful relationships. That is, until protagonist Dimple Pennington, an aspiring social media influencer at 30 who lives with her mother, lands in hot water after a fight with her abusive boyfriend, Kyron, ends with him slipping and falling in their kitchen. Dimple, worried Kyron is dead and she will be accused of murder, calls her oldest sister, Nikisha, for help, and Nikisha arrives on the scene with the other three siblings—a dramatic if implausible development. A wild romp ensues as they try to hide Kyron's body. As Dimple faces a ticking clock involving a nude photo and blackmail, the plot oscillates between the quest to put the incident with Kyron behind them and the siblings' developing relationships with one another. As Cyril slips back into their lives, they begin to understand him through his own family history. The juicy premise gives way to conflicts that are solved too easily, and there are too many anticlimactic scenes. There's potential here, but's rather frustratingly not realized. Agents: Deborah Schneider and Gelfman Schneider, ICM Partners.
Customer Reviews
People Person
I have yet to finish this book and am not sure I will. So far it consists entirely of inane conversation between characters that I have failed to connect with. Very disappointing as I enjoyed Queenie.