Strange Talk

Category: General Fiction

Strange Talk

Amie Azoic has always heard things other people can’t. Her rickety old house is alive with voices: smug comments from the fridge, needy cries from the smoke alarm, romantic overtures from the toaster. Then there’s Door, Amie’s closest friend, whose voice has abruptly gone quiet. When her nephew Jay comes to stay unexpectedly, Amie is forced to let the outside world into the house.

As she helps Jay to navigate a personal crisis, with backup from her eccentric ‘found family’ of appliances, she begins to acknowledge her own secret longings. But does the object of her desires feel the same?

A wonderfully weird and darkly funny novel from award-winning author Lynda Clark.

Paperback

Published: 05/11/2026

ISBN: 9781914148842

Price: £9.99

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‘An engrossing tale about loneliness, longing and difference. Clark is a talented writer who has produced a very funny, gripping and heart-warming novel celebrating love in all its various forms. In presenting the perspective of appliances and machines, Strange Talk is compelling and unputdownable – I didn’t want it to end!’ —Caitríona Lally, Rooney Prize-winning author of Eggshells and Wunderland

‘This book is a joy: it’s hugely funny, endlessly inventive and oddly touching. Strange, seductive and delightfully surprising, above all it transforms the world into a richer place.’ —Jane Alexander, author of A User’s Guide To Make-Believe

‘An utterly unique, compelling delight’ —Xalavier Nelson Jr., video game developer and writer

‘Our tech already speaks to us, but Strange Talk asks what might happen if those voices were truly their own. A playful and inventive novel exploring technology, videogame culture and different ways of being’ —Violet Berlin, presenter, producer and writer

‘Behind the odd premise is a moving narrative about isolation, nonconformity and a family’s deep scars, which – refreshingly – works in tandem with the oddness rather than diminishing it’ —Polis Loizou, author of A Good Year