Small Comfort
Longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026
Published on 12. March 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
384 pages
978-1-0354-3394-0 (ISBN)
Description
LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2026
'Zings and smarts in all the right places . . . breathtakingly original, profound but with a delicious dose of irreverence'
INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2026 JUDGES
'Brilliantly funny, poignant and timeless . . . This newly Booker Prize-longlisted novel is ripe for book club discussions and is not recommended for public transport reading in case you, like this reviewer, miss your stop'
READINGS BOOKS, Melbourne
'An entertaining, thought-provoking piece of fiction'
A Life In Books
'Simple, delicate, delicious prose that delivers from the very first story' ? ? ? ? ? READER REVIEW
'Smart, clever . . . such a brilliant read!' ? ? ? ? ? READER REVIEW
_______
'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 marital bliss to keep their inheritance, Ia Genberg 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.
More praise for Small Comfort:
'A delightful and exquisitely executed literary mini-study that brings to mind Joan Didion' - Expressen
'Her humour and delight in language make the stories crackle with life' - Svenska Dagbladet
'I haven't read anything better this year' - Sydsvenskan
'Genberg captures, with intelligence and insight, the afflictions of our time' - Goeteborgs-Poste
Praise for Ia Genberg:
'Miraculous' - Hernan Diaz, author of Trust
'I wish I could write like this' - Fredrik Backman, author of A Man Called Ove
'So good that I kept underlining passages so I could reread them later' - Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
'Mesmerizing and hot to the touch' - Catherine Lacey, New York Times
'Zings and smarts in all the right places . . . breathtakingly original, profound but with a delicious dose of irreverence'
INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2026 JUDGES
'Brilliantly funny, poignant and timeless . . . This newly Booker Prize-longlisted novel is ripe for book club discussions and is not recommended for public transport reading in case you, like this reviewer, miss your stop'
READINGS BOOKS, Melbourne
'An entertaining, thought-provoking piece of fiction'
A Life In Books
'Simple, delicate, delicious prose that delivers from the very first story' ? ? ? ? ? READER REVIEW
'Smart, clever . . . such a brilliant read!' ? ? ? ? ? READER REVIEW
_______
'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 marital bliss to keep their inheritance, Ia Genberg 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.
More praise for Small Comfort:
'A delightful and exquisitely executed literary mini-study that brings to mind Joan Didion' - Expressen
'Her humour and delight in language make the stories crackle with life' - Svenska Dagbladet
'I haven't read anything better this year' - Sydsvenskan
'Genberg captures, with intelligence and insight, the afflictions of our time' - Goeteborgs-Poste
Praise for Ia Genberg:
'Miraculous' - Hernan Diaz, author of Trust
'I wish I could write like this' - Fredrik Backman, author of A Man Called Ove
'So good that I kept underlining passages so I could reread them later' - Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
'Mesmerizing and hot to the touch' - Catherine Lacey, New York Times
Reviews / Votes
Money makes the world go round and Ia Genberg has a deep, clear-eyed vision of how. The dramatic distinctness of the five stories that make up Small Comfort speaks to the might of Genberg's imaginative powers, while the intricate threads tying them together are testament to her subtleness as a thinker. It couldn't work without Kira Josefsson's staggeringly flexible translation, which also stands out for the naturalness of its dialogue and wonderfully rhythmic prose. This duo's writing zings and smarts in all the right places as we see ourselves reflected in the characters, warts and all. Breathtakingly original, profound but with a delicious dose of irreverence. * International Booker Prize 2026 Judges * An entertaining, thought-provoking piece of fiction * A Life In Books * A delightful and exquisitely executed literary mini-study that brings to mind Joan Didion. * Expressen * Brilliantly funny, poignant and timeless, Small Comfort is so much more than five interconnected short stories about money, worth, debt and values. Masterfully translated by Kira Josefsson, Ia Genberg's wit and form-defying finesse present complex characters and relationships - personal, public and philosophical. More novellas than short stories, the pieces reveal interconnected elements without being trite or too clever, moving from form to form to tell stories that are deeply, even uncomfortably human . . . This newly Booker Prize-longlisted novel is ripe for book club discussions and is not recommended for public transport reading in case you, like this reviewer, miss your stop. * Readings Books, Melbourne * I haven't read anything better this year. * Sydsvenskan * Genberg has a joy in language and precision in expression . . . she captures, with intelligence and insight, the afflictions of our time; that smooth, qualified bullshit talk that makes truth or lies seem irrelevant. * Goeteborgs-Posten * Ia Genberg writes layered stories that resist easy categorisation. They are a kind of tall tales that the author anchors in reality through precise portrayals of the ways people think, speak, and behave. The sharpness of Genberg's powers of observation, her humour and delight in language make the stories crackle with life . . . Ia Genberg is a sharp stylist who effortlessly swings between the mundane and the profound. * Svenska Dagbladet *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Headline Publishing Group
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 194 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 29 mm
Weight
270 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-0354-3394-0 (9781035433940)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
03/2026
Wildfire
€7.99
Available for download
Persons
Ia Genberg (born 1967) began her writing career as a journalist and published her debut novel Sweet Friday in 2012. She went on to write Belated Farewell (2013), Small Comfort (2018) and The Details (2022) - all widely praised by critics and frequently featured on Swedish bestseller lists.
The Details, shortlisted for the 2024 International Booker Prize and winner of the August Prize 2022, has since sold in thirty-nine territories around the world.
The English translation of Small Comfort publishes in 2026.
The Details, shortlisted for the 2024 International Booker Prize and winner of the August Prize 2022, has since sold in thirty-nine territories around the world.
The English translation of Small Comfort publishes in 2026.