'A fantastic frothy read about suburbia with all Tom Allen's great style' JACQUELINE WILSON, international #1 bestseller

'A deliciously witty suburban comedy of manners with real bite, shot through with Tom Allen's trademark humour. A brilliant debut novel!' TERRY DEARY, #1 Sunday Times bestseller

'Absolutely fantastic, I love Tom Allen!' SARA COX

'I love it!' JEFF GOLDBLUM

'A brilliant book' CLAUDIA WINKLEMAN

'Genuinely charming and so well-written. Read this book instead of doom-scrolling and you will go to bed happy' JEREMY VINE

'A story that made me both spit out my tea with laughter and brought me close to tears. I LOVED IT!'
RUTH HOGAN, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Keeper of Lost Things

'Charming and comical with a sardonic raised eyebrow. Very Tom Allen!' JO BRAND

'Tom writes with a perfect comic voice, about a place no one knows better, suburbia. A beautiful book about a much ignored area of British life' JOSH WIDDICOMBE

It may be quiet in the suburbs, but it's far from peaceful . . .

Oak Drive can be found nestled tidily in an unassuming English town. Its uniform front gardens overlook a midsized common which the street's residents survey with quiet, some might say smug, pride.

This is the sort of place where it pays to sweat the small stuff, and let the big things look after themselves. Bins should be placed back in their right positions in a timely fashion and paintwork should share the same tasteful but muted palette.

Sometimes, however, the big things do not look after themselves – and all hell can break loose in sleepy suburbia.

Common Decency chronicles the lives and interactions of the street's residents as they band together to save a beloved oak tree from destruction at the hands of ruthless developers.

As tensions rise and repressed neuroses and resentments seep out, the secrets of Oak Drive threaten to shatter the well-ordered veneer, revealing some rather more surprising truths. . .

Tom Allen brings his trademark dark comedy to the page in this brilliant novel about what it truly means to be a neighbourhood.

READERS ARE LOVING TOM ALLEN'S SPARKLING DEBUT
'What an exceptional piece of writing. It's witty, it's immersive, it makes you think'
'A fabulous read, a real comedy of manners'
'Tom Allen has a natural affinity for storytelling. I can't wait to see what he writes next'
'A humorous, charming book with a bit of edge to it'
'The cosiest of suburban observational dramas, with the smart sass and wit you'd expect from Tom Allen'
'I absolutely ADORED this book!'

Happily settled in a new relationship and with a dream house of his own, Tom Allen could finally call himself an adult. But when his beloved dad died suddenly, Tom’s life was rocked by a fresh set of challenges, and he started to find comfort in his friends, his past and his newly dug vegetable patch.

With his hallmark honesty and wit, Tom writes beautifully about those days, weeks and months following loss, and about how bewildering the practicalities of life can be in the wake of an upheaval – those moments, really, when everything can start to feel a bit too much . . .

‘Hilarious and poignant’ JO BRAND
‘Heartfelt, vulnerable and touchingly sincere’ GUARDIAN
‘Life-affirming’ ATTITUDE

Happily settled in a new relationship and with a dream house of his own, comedian Tom Allen had finally moved on from the arrested development of millennial life and could at last call himself an adult.

But when his father died suddenly in late 2021, Tom’s newfound independence was rocked by a fresh set of challenges, and he began to find solace in the past (and his new vegetable patch). Told through snapshots from Tom’s busy life – whether reflecting on the campness of funeral customs, muddy lockdown walks in unsuitable footwear or just reminiscing on his childhood obsession with Patricia Routledge – Too Much is a hilarious joyride of stories as well as an emotional ode to Tom’s beloved dad, and a touching manifesto on how to navigate the complexities of grief.

With moving honesty and wit, Tom writes beautifully about those days, weeks and months following his family’s loss, and about how bewildering the practicalities of life can be in the wake of an upheaval – those moments, really, when everything can start to feel a bit too much…

‘Hilarious and poignant’ JO BRAND

‘Tom Allen is one of the funniest comedians in the UK, the best dressed man I know and now it turns out he is a superb writer. I hate him’
JOSH WIDDICOMBE

~~~~~

‘When I was 16 I dressed in Victorian clothing in a bid to distract people from the fact that I was gay. It was a flawed plan.’

No Shame is a very funny, candid and emotional ride of a memoir by one of our most beloved comedians. The working-class son of a coach driver, and the youngest member of the Noel Coward Society, Tom Allen grew up in 90s suburbia as the eternal outsider.

In these hilarious, honest and heart breaking stories Tom recalls observations on childhood, his adolescence, the family he still lives with, and his attempts to come out and negotiate the gay dating scene. They are written with his trademark caustic wit and warmth, and will entertain, surprise and move you in equal measure.