Preorder: Arrives 2nd December 2026
"Funny, odd, occasionally eerie and truly original. Rue Baldry is a wonderful conveyor of the weirdness of life as well as its gentler moments and revelations. It's exciting to come across someone who writes so boldly without ever losing sight of the small and telling detail. The title is an ironic nod to things that are not 'nice' but perhaps have the potential to be. I love the focus, too, on domestic grot, events that go pear-shaped, compromised relationships and the awkward trappings of everyday existence. I will be pressing this book into the hands of anyone looking for tales of the unsung, the under-acknowledged and those looking for the remarkable in ordinary things."
- Ruth Thomas, Author of The Home Corner
FROM THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2026 DISCOVERIES AUTHOR
Stories traversing identity, sexuality, and human connection across the industrial towns and satellite villages of Northern England.
Opening with the Commonwealth Prize-winning "Lech, Prince, and the Nice Things," the collection weaves through teenage sexual awakening, family secrets, and a closing dinner party where decades-old prejudice curdles into comedy. Characters grapple with class divisions, discrimination, and desires they barely understand themselves.
Unflinching and deeply human, these stories capture pivotal moments when lives quietly but irrevocably change course.
About the Author
Thirty of Rue Baldry’s short stories have appeared in journals such as Granta, Fairlight Shorts, Ambit, MIR Online, Fictive Dream, The First Line, Litro, Pareidolia, Mslexia, and The Honest Ulsterman. In 2023 her story, 'Lech Prince, and the Nice Things', won the Canada and Europe region of the Commonwealth Prize. Other stories have been longlisted for the BBC NSSA and placed in the Reader Berlin and Odd Voice Out competitions.
She lives in York, has a Creative Writing MA from Leeds University, was a Bridge Awards/ Moniack Mhor Emerging Writer, a Jerwood/Arvon mentee, and a Women’s Prize Discoveries longlistee. Her debut novel, Dwell, won the 2024 First Novel Prize and was released with Northodox Press in 2026. Other novels have come second in the Yeovil Prize, and placed in the Caledonian, Bridport, First Page, Retreat West, and Flash 500 competitions.
