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Harriet Lane

@harrietlane.bsky.social
349 followers 274 following 53 posts

Author of ALYS, ALWAYS; HER; and OTHER PEOPLE’S FUN (W&N/Little, Brown, 2025)

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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 26/05/2026
Otherwise, the article was perfect
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Revisiting Molly Keane’s Good Behaviour (first/last read when I was 17) and oh goodness, WHAT a book. Listened to the audio via @rniblibrary.bsky.social. Superb narration by Elizabeth Proud
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Always a thrill when a reader just gets it. Perfect thumbnail review ⬇️
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Mina Li (she/her) @codenameminali.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
yesterday's laptop detox reads: OTHER PEOPLE'S FUN by @harrietlane.bsky.social (sharp, disturbing as hell, a masterclass in writing unlikable but compelling characters that you can't get enough of, had me evaluating my relationship to social media and relationships) and 1/2
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Doorbell rings and I open the door to the triumphant cat, who strolls in while footsteps hurry away down the cold dark street. Is it always the same person? Do they know they’re being played, or do they believe the cat when he tells them we are horrid?
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Caustic Cover Critic @causticcovercritic.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
From William Donaldson's GREAT DISASTERS OF THE STAGE:
When Orson Welles gave his one-man show of Shakespearean readings in Phoenix, Arizona, only five people turned up.
'Allow me to introduce myself,' said Mr Welles. 'I am an actor, a writer, a director, of both films and plays, an architect, a painter, a stage designer, a brilliant cook, an expert on the corrida, a conjuror, a collector, a connoisseur, an enfant terrible and an authority on modern art. How come there are so many of me, and so few of you?' Then he walked off.The Least Successful Theatrical Dinner Party

Nicol Williamson was invited to dinner by Kenneth Tynan.
He turned up an hour early, catching his hosts unbathed and unchanged. He volunteered to pass the time hoovering the floor. Then he asked, 'Who else is coming?' Tynan told him that one of the guests was Jonathan Miller. 'Biggest phoney in London,' said Williamson crisply. 'Who else?' Tynan told
him that there would be a pretty young actress who had been having an affair with Roman Polanski.
When the guests arrived, Williamson aborted polite conver-sation by producing an LP of the Mamas and Papas and playing it at full volume.
In the dining-room Williamson munched in silence before addressing his first remark to the pretty young actress. Placing his left hand on his right bicep and making a swift upward jab with a clenched right fist, he said, 'So you're the girl who was being fucked by Polanski.'
'Wrong, Mr Williamson,' she said. 'I am being fucked by Polanski.'
This exchange seemed to annoy Williamson, and a few minutes later he got up and left the room. There was a deafen-ing five-minute blast of The Mamas and the Papas, then he marched out, slamming the front door.
'I enjoy baboons,' said Dr Miller, 'but preferably in zoos.'In the early seventies, Sir Richard Attenborough, as he then wasn't, arranged a charity performance in a church hall in aid of the Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre. After the show some thirty of our most dependable middle-order mimes Frank Windsor, Stratford Johns, Geoffrey Keen, Rupert Davies, Barry Foster, Gerald Harper, Jon Pertwee, Pat Phoenix, Una Stubbs, etc - much pleased with their efforts and swapping anecdotes, left together by a side-door and walked into a septic tank.
Mr George Maguire, who had installed twenty temporary lavatories for the occasion, said: 'That's show business.'Invited to dinner at Kensington Palace, Michael Holroyd was warned that Princess Margaret liked to set the table on a roar with her skilful impressions. At her first attempt, the celebrated biographer screamed with laughter and banged the table. She had been speaking in her normal voice.
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Francis Wheen picks OPF as one of his Books of the Year in the Spectator
Francis Wheen picks OPF for the Spectator’s Book of the Year roundup: 

My greatest cause for rejoicing was a new novel from Harriet Lane, the laureate of stalking, long after those of us who loved Alys, Always (2012) and Her (2014) had given up hope of any more. Like its predecessors, Other People's Fun (Weidenfeld, £20) has a female narrator who seems at first to be a nondescript mouse but turns out to have sharp little teeth and a scarily observant eye. It's funny, creepy and unputdownable.
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
theguardian.com
Other People’s Fun by Harriet Lane review – darkly comic tale of envy and revenge in the Insta age
The worlds of the haves and the have-nots clash, in a toxic friendship between two women brought together by a school reunion
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
A Tale of Toxic Friendship, With a Midlife Mean-Girl Twist www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/b...
nytimes.com
A Tale of Toxic Friendship, With a Midlife Mean-Girl Twist
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
I adore it when couples message each other about trips to the tip and picking up courgettes not realising they’re actually on the street WhatsApp
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Very early reviews for Other People’s Fun (the i paper, Grazia, Red)
OTHER PEOPLE'S
FUN
HARRIET LANE
LITERARY THRILLER
Other People's Fun
Harriet Lane
WEIDENFELD & NICOLSON, £20
Ruth's old acquaintance Sookie suddenly wants to reconnect - but something's off. Lane returns with a tense, sharply observed novel of class, social media and manipulation, simmering with quiet dread.
Other People's Fun by Harriet Lane
Ruth's marriage has ended, her daughter has left home and her job is ho-hum, so when she meets up with Sookie - the most popular girl in school - at a class reunion, she's keen to reconnect (she's been spying on her social media for years anyway). Sookie's life is Insta-perfect and Ruth is the dutiful friend.
Or is she? Funny literary suspense.Other People's Fun by Harriet Lane
(W&N, £20, out 30th October)
This deliciously twisted tale is a one-sitting read steeped in tension and unease. Reluctantly divorced and stagnating in her job, Ruth reunites with Sookie, queen bee of their school days, but Sookie's friendship is purely transactional. When Ruth discovers that Sookie is hiding explosive secrets behind her perfect Instagram grid, things take a dark turn.
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
V happy to see Other People’s Fun in the NYT’s fiction preview: 27 Novels Coming This Fall
nytimes.com
27 Novels Coming This Fall
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
Happy paperback release day to the wholly delightful Small Bomb at Dimperley. Such a funny, sunny book
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Pre-order bargain Link to follow
Oh go on — pre-order my book. 25% off OTHER PEOPLE’S FUN at Waterstones, until the end of the month!
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
@rnib.bsky.social Huge thanks to the RNIB Library: I’ve only recently embraced audiobooks—and oh my, your stock is FANTASTIC. Many new books (Maurice and Maralyn ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) but also ALL THE ELIZABETH TAYLORS. And no queue. Such riches!
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Suddenly many London buses have ‘wooden floors’, as if we are in a country kitchen or an Alpine hut. Was TfL offered a job lot?
Interior of 210 to Finsbury Park with ‘wooden floor’ laminate
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Karolina Sutton @karolinasutton.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
‘Unputdownable’ @thebookseller.com on Other People’s Fun by @harrietlane.bsky.social @wnbooks.bsky.social (out in October)
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
Wonderful book: sailing, catastrophe, the mysteries of a marriage. So well done
theguardian.com
Maurice and Maralyn: A Whale, a Shipwreck, a Love Story by Sophie Elmhirst review – how to keep a marriage afloat
This extraordinary true story of a couple lost at sea for 117 days in the 1970s is beautifully retold as an account of the rituals that sustain relationships
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Karolina Sutton @karolinasutton.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
‘If someone wants to be seen… then someone has to watch’ - a new book from the author of Alys, Always & Her - OTHER PEOPLE’s FUN by @harrietlane.bsky.social @wnbooks.bsky.social
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Clair Woodward @clairywoowoo.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
Your regular reminder that this is a great record, and Sing Street is one of the great movies. youtu.be/fuWTcmjnEGY?...
youtu.be
Sing Street - Drive It Like You Stole It (Official Video)
YouTube video by SingStreetVEVO
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
Loved this show at Kenwood, two rooms filled with story and character. Plus: eyes, hands and, oh my, the FABRICS Heiress: Sargent’s American Portraits www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/whats-...
english-heritage.org.uk
Heiress: Sargent’s American Portraits
Experience the power and glamour of John Singer Sargent’s portraits in Kenwood's new exhibition; Heiress: Sargent’s American Portrait.
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Thoughts and prayers with the Industry writing team
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ALCS @alcs.co.uk · 03/04/2025
Today, we'll be joining the @societyofauthors.bsky.social outside Meta's offices to protest the use of pirated works to train their AI models. Join us if you can! More info: societyofauthors.org/2025/04/03/u...
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Justin on eurostar @eurostarjustin.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
Hands up if you remember buying Sunday papers from vendors at London stations late on a Saturday night. 📰🌃
Platform 9 at London King's Cross in black and white.
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
We had two faint stoppages tonight. I gather it’s now a Thing? Is it true it’s men who are doing all the fainting? I found it fairly maddening; god knows how Romola Garai must feel. Terrific performances tho #TheYears
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Really important and moving account of state failure in this weekend's @financialtimes.com that is free to read for all here:
ft.com
My brother, the NHS and the inquest into a needless death
My brother spent the last hours of his life trying in vain to get basic help from the NHS. Why?
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Nothing I like better than catching a revival of Alys, Always but annoyingly I can't get to this. Don't miss if you are near Nottingham! This week only!
lacemarkettheatre.co.uk
Alys, Always - The Lace Market Theatre
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Julie Randles @julierandles.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
Sylvanian @backlisted.bsky.social : Imogen by Jilly Cooper
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Rhodri Marsden @rhodri.biz · 20/01/2025
I note with interest the valedictory posts on Meta platforms by people bidding their dear, dear friends a tearful farewell but which garner no comments or likes because the algorithm deems it more important to show those friends an archive picture of Rod Stewart or an interesting fact about linseed
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Karolina Sutton @karolinasutton.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
Baby Franz Kafka
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Sarah Jaffray @sarahj.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
youtu.be/0R38gIgjkOU?...
youtu.be
David Lynch's Weather Report 12/14/22
YouTube video by DAVID LYNCH THEATER
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Sarah Jaffray @sarahj.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
David Lynch started doing his weather report on Joe Escalante's 'Last of the Famous International Morning Shows' on 103.1 FM L.A. in 2006. He would call in at random, describe the weather in L.A. in some poetic fashion and then abruptly hang up and it was my favourite thing in the world.
Meme of David Lynch sat at his desk with the text 'looks like blue skies and golden sunshine all along the way. Everyone have a great day.'
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Jamie McKelvie @mckelvie.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
It's the relentlessness of it, isn't it. All the avenues we used to have to earn a living, one by one, and now we have to waste so much time on this shit, just to plead with our government to not drive us completely into the ground. All for some rich people to keep getting richer.
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Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
From the Observer's recently retired editor...
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
Snowy Day, or Bonfire Night, or Go Fishing, when Dad’s left in charge and Tim falls in the stream
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
To accompany my festive prep I’m listening to Small Bomb at Dimperley (as recommended by @amandacoe.bsky.social) and it’s such a funny sunny tonic, delightful in every way — thank you @lissakevans.bsky.social (also read brilliantly by Lucy Briers)
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Colson Whitehead @colsonwhitehead.com · 14/12/2024
Semi-colon party all night long! Say what? Semi-colon party all night long!!
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Lissa Evans @lissakevans.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
#LiteraryAdventCalendar Day 14. A little excerpt from one of Susie Steiner’s Manon Bradshaw novels; how many writers of police procedurals can produce not only a gripping plot but also brilliantly funny glimpses of a believable domestic life? What a star Susie was....
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Alan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
I prefer to locate this in the tradition of Tory party leaders saying weird stuff about sandwiches for no reason. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
independent.co.uk
Rishi Sunak reveals his favourite meal is sandwiches in last-minute appeal to voters
With less than 24 hours until polls open for the general election, the prime minister told ITV’s This Morning he is ‘a big sandwich person’
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Gerard @groverxv.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
She. Is. Mental.
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Clive Myrie should button his jacket while he’s standing up
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
Those whispery little ads on Radio 3 for its new ‘R3 Unwind’ sibling are really setting my teeth on edge
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Zoë Crowther @zoecrowther.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
⚠️ This Robert Jenrick account is also FAKE, I have had it confirmed directly And it is way more realistic than the fake Kemi Badenoch one – posting the same content as his X account This is very worrying
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Seems nice here but the lack of clear verification is going to generate a LOT of chaos isn’t it
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Cameron Loxdale @cloxdale.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Good morning Bluesky. Here's a helpful starter pack for divorced men named Geoff but one has been murdered. Please help us find the killer. go.bsky.app/KDY26rh
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Gina @brokenbiros.bsky.social · 19/02/2024
A MASTERPIECE and will be on again at 10 and on 4OD or whatever it’s called now for a while presumably
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 09/02/2024
Reviewed Megan Nolan’s second novel for the NYT
nytimes.com
A Dead Child, Too Much Booze and a Family in Crisis
“Ordinary Human Failings,” a new novel by the Irish writer Megan Nolan, is a fierce and relentless account of characters trapped by circumstance and tragedy.
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 06/12/2023
I’m watching sky news and a Tory commentator just referred to Robert Generic
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Harriet Lane @harrietlane.bsky.social · 30/10/2023
@amandacoe.bsky.social Thank goodness you’re here
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