Early Sobrieties by Michael Deagler

As a non-drinker, I was not sure to expect from a book about being sober. I soon realised that this book is about a lot more than sobriety. It is about working out who you are and who you want to be and the people who are in your corner. Funny and weird and oddly moving. Loved it.

From the back

Dennis Monk is about to spend his first summer sober. At twenty-six he is ready to re-join sensible adult life, but just when Dennis needs stability, his uptight parents kick him out into a world of couch-surfing.

Everything around him has changed and everyone he knows seems to be doing better than he is. At every street corner, former classmates, estranged drinking buddies, and prospective lovers threaten to burst the bubble of his recovery. And Dennis Monk is about to learn the difference between getting sober and staying sober in this new world.

Early Sobrieties is a devastatingly witty novel about coming of age a second time. Deagler’s debut marks the arrival of an astonishing new voice in American fiction.