Green Dot

Shortlisted for the 2025 British Book Awards Debut Fiction Book of the Year

By: Madeleine Gray

Narrated by: Sacha Simon

A BEST BOOK OF 2024 IN STYLIST, DAILY MAIL, THE i PAPER, IRISH TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES AND RED

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 BRITISH BOOK AWARDS DEBUT FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR
'ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS YOU WILL READ ALL YEAR' ELIZABETH DAY
'BRILLIANT. WHAT A WRITER' NIGELLA LAWSON
'INCREDIBLY FUNNY' CAITLIN MORAN
'WONDERFUL' GILLIAN ANDERSON
'THIS YEAR'S SORROW AND BLISS' DAILY MAIL

Hera is in her mid-twenties, which seems young to everyone except people in their mid-twenties.

Since leaving school, she has been trying to kick and scream into existence a life she cares about, but with little success so far.

Until she meets Arthur.

He works with her, he is older than her, he is also married. But in her soulless office - the large cold room she feels destined to spend her life in - he is a source of much-needed sustenance.

And though Hera has previously dated women, she soon falls headlong into a workplace romance that will quickly consume her life.

Laugh-out-loud funny, deeply moving and whip smart, Green Dot is a story about the terrible allure of wanting something that promises nothing and the winding, torturous, often hilarious journey we take in deciding who we are and who we want to be.

'IF YOU LIKED FLEABAG YOU WILL LOVE GREEN DOT' PANDORA SYKES
'YOU'LL TEAR THROUGH THE PAGES' HEAT MAGAZINE
'STAGGERINGLY GOOD AND WICKEDLY FUNNY' THE SATURDAY PAPER
'THE DEBUT OF THE YEAR' i PAPER©2024 Madeleine Gray

Critic reviews

Green Dot is a sparkling debut - laugh out loud funny and achingly sad . . . Makes us consider that age-old question: why do something even though we know we shouldn't? Madeleine Gray is a dazzling writer - a huge talent (Gillian Anderson)

Brilliant. Riveting. Sharp. Funny. Dark. I want to give Green Dot all the adjectives but will content myself with saying it is one of the best books you will read all year (Elizabeth Day, author of MAGPIE)

The intensity of Annie Ernaux's Simple Passion written with the lightness of Bridget Jones's Diary and the irreverence of Fleabag (Johanna Thomas-Corr)

I wolfed Green Dot down over two nights. An incredibly funny book about a woman having an affair that's a really bad idea. Every sentence sparkles (Caitlin Moran)

If you liked Fleabag you will love Green Dot (Pandora Sykes)

So droll, bawdy, sexy, hilarious and good fun, everything you read thereafter seems dull in comparison (Anna Bonet)

What a treat. It's positively indecent that a book this funny should also be so moving and wise and well-observed. Everything I read after finishing it felt a bit anaemic in comparison. Every sentence is a joy (Rebecca Wait, author of I'M SORRY YOU FEEL THAT WAY)

One of the most buzzed-about books for 2024 is Green Dot and it's a gulp of a read thanks to Gray's fizzing protagonist, Hera . . . Hera's longing, hope and pop culture references (everything from The Wire to Rupi Kaur and British pub opening times are used for proper laughs) make it one of the most entertaining reads we've had in a long time (Francesca Brown)

This book! What a gutting, funny, smart, smart, smart book it is, one that I absolutely inhaled while almost constantly emotionally bracing myself. Madeleine Gray is a hilarious, humane, and highly perceptive writer (Claire Lombardo, author of THE MOST FUN WE EVER HAD)

Hilarious and heartbreaking, Green Dot might just be the debut of the year. It's the type of book you can devour in no time (Anna Bonet)

As funny as it is bleak, Green Dot is a compulsive read that grapples with the quest for meaning and happiness in our fractured world. Madeleine Gray's luminous debut echoes the canon of literature centred around affairs whilst achieving something completely fresh and asking questions that will stay with readers in the same way her protagonist Hera's voice is sure to do (Kate Sawyer, author of THE STRANDING)

Just brilliant. Hilarious and sexy but so wise about the human heart, too. Witty as Fleabag, psychologically insightful as Sally Rooney - everyone will be talking about Green Dot (Lucie Whitehouse, author of LAST WITNESS)