The Good Time : The first collection of short stories from the author of The Original

‘But we were having such a good time,’ I said. That was all there was, all I could say, whether or not it was enough. ‘Weren’t we? Weren’t we having such a good time?’

A woman suffering an extreme allergic reaction to a yoga mat returns to the UK to give a reading at her estranged best friend’s wedding; a corporate new starter desperately tries to persuade her colleague to accept that his online girlfriend doesn’t exist; a group of student activists stage an artful protest against the demolition of a tower block; a once inseparable friendship group confront the reason they drifted; and a self-taught pianist whose wife is six months pregnant decides she must travel to Warsaw to listen to Chopin’s heart.

In The Good Time , Nell Stevens introduces us to characters teetering on the edge of self-knowledge, unveiling the complexities of their inner worlds with empathy and humour.

Wry, precise and full of wisdom, these stories ask what it means to have a good time, and what happens when the good times end.

‘Wry, wise and funny’ Daily Mail

'Stevens is showing herself to be that rare thing: a writer who we can think alongside, even while she’s making things up' Lara Feigel, Guardian

Author: Nell Stevens

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), Short stories

Published on 13 Aug 2026 by Simon & Schuster Ltd.