Pick a Colour

This impressive novel shows how war, colonialism and migration play out in a small room where everyone’s name tag says Susan . . . There are developing moments of sympathy and even affection . . . and beautifully understated sadness . . . Highly crafted, layered and clever -- Sarah Moss * Guardian *
Exceptional . . . A compact novel which prioritises atmosphere . . . The vibes are as immaculate as the manicures provided within . . . Outlines the ordinary in incandescent detail . . . A ferocity bubbles underneath the story’s sleek surface . . . In these subtle societal observations, the novel reads as quietly revolutionary, and its well-crafted characters and impeccable prose distinguish Thammavongsa as a particularly thrilling talent . . . A winner of numerous awards, this work suggests further high-profile accolades in her future . . . She is one to watch, and this debut is a certifiable knockout -- Laura Cassidy * Irish Examiner *
Bitey . . . Lets us into the secret yet ubiquitous world of nail salons, skilfully opening up the experience of those who work there . . . Thammavongsa captures the role of beauty salons as modern confessionals . . . There’s darkness laced into the mundane comings and goings . . . Richly observational, this us-versus-them tale illuminates a rarely seen slice of life -- Ceci Browning * The Times *
A taut, tricksy novel . . . A feat of economy . . . Thammavongsa treats us to a buffet of minor characters … The author’s strategy is subtle but assured . . . Punches above its weight. Thammavongsa’s minimalism conveys a range of tones and psychological nuances as she grapples with the stubborn prejudices of class. She feints like a prize fighter, tipping in clues to her protagonist’s past . . . Pick a Colour expands beyond the frame of a character study, but on its own terms, beholden to no reader’s expectation . . . Wily and caustic, the book condemns petty Western narcissisms yet allows for bursts of radiance -- Hamilton Cain * Washington Post *
The immigrant experience and the tension between who we really are and the parts we’re forced to play is deftly explored in this triumphant debut -- James Carey-Douglas * Mail on Sunday *
It would be easy to judge this book by its incredible cover. But the insightful depictions of privilege and the service industry inside are even more vibrant . . . A cracklingly tense novel -- Carly Tagen-Dye * People Magazine *
A smart exploration of class and power dynamics * Grazia *
A shrewd, carefully observed character study . . . The Susans act as a kind of catty Greek chorus . . . Poignant ruminations about love and loss -- Miriam Balanescu * Prospect *
The definition of small but mighty literature . . . Through deft writing and humour, Thammavongsa creates a world rich with individuality and understanding for the lives that surround us but that we may not at first see -- Urban Waite * San Francisco Chronicle *
A slim, gimlet-eyed tale about one woman’s desires in an age of erasure * Boston Globe *
Pick a Colour is a wickedly funny and moving novel by a superbly stylish writer. This is a book about intimacy and alienation, how othering limits our gaze, about the masks we wear, the instincts we hone, and the ways in which we are nonetheless created anew in each encounter. In a world so often drained of ethics and meaning, Souvankham narrows in on the contemporary rituals of our modern day confessionals – and I couldn’t help but feel her narrator is a high priestess for this moment -- AVNI DOSHI, author of Burnt Sugar
Pick a Colour is one of the greatest novels I have ever read. In alchemical and captivating prose, this book orbits the steady flows of power and projection that exist between Ning, her employees and her clients. Love, death, joy, abandonment, deception and lust are all at stake in Susan’s Nail Salon. The world of Pick a Colour is shockingly intimate. Reading this book left me with an intense desire to touch a stranger’s hands -- RITA BULLWINKEL, Booker Prize-longlisted author of Headshot
Only as masterful an ironist as Souvankham Thammavongsa could have pulled this off: a work of urgent and impassioned solidarity that is also a defiant, even pugnacious, assertion of narrative autonomy and technical control. Pick a Colour is a knockout: every punch lands -- ELEANOR CATTON, author of Birnam Wood
This debut novel is a must for fans (like me) of Thammavongsa's intimate, deliciously tricky short stories. With dry humour and a keen eye for class, she's given us a hauntingly good book about the dignity and despair of work: the secret life of nail salons -- ED PARK, Pulitzer Prize finalist author of Same Bed Different Dreams
Tender and intimate yet tense from beginning to end with its blow-by-blow immediacy, Pick a Colour subverts the comforting mundane. Souvankham Thammavongsa’s characters speak to us through the cracks of power hierarchies to elucidate the ordinary potential for violence buzzing under a thin veneer of normal society -- PITCHAYA SUDBANTHAD, author of Bangkok Wakes to Rain