Camberwell Beauty: Jenny Eclair

Welcome to South London, to one of the nicest streets in one of the country's vilest boroughs...For the residents of Lark Grove, events shunt into each other like cars on a fogbound motorway: characters like Anna, a butter-side-up sort of woman; Anna's neighbour Jo, the kind of woman who can ask for a pound of sausages without the butcher smirking; their sons and daughters - Nancy-boy Jed, snivelling Henry, prepubescent Uberbitch Georgina and fat Pandora; Jo's husband Nigel, a terrible one for casual sex; and Anna's husband, 'good old Chris', the worm that turns. Jenny Eclair's debut novel brilliantly dissects the problems of urban living. Camberwell Beauty - come inside, shut the door and smell the coffee. You could almost be in Kensington.