This week, we’re shining a spotlight on the brilliantly creepy and blackly funny Blue Skies by Helen Hodgman.

Originally published in 1976, Blue Skies is the story of a young wife and mother stuck in stultifying suburbia. Her only escape from this monotony comes in the form of her concurrent affairs: one with Jonathan, man about town; the other with Ben, a troubled artist—and the husband of her best friend.

But as the relationships in her life start to break down, so too does her sanity—and the spectacular climax of her crack-up will leave you reeling.

Blue Skies was Helen’s debut novel. It was very well-received on its initial publication—receiving plaudits from Auberon Waugh and the New York Times, among others—but was long out of print before being revived in this new edition.

You can read an extract from Danielle Wood’s wonderful introduction to our edition here and reading group notes can be found on our resources page.

If you love Blue Skies, keep an eye out later this year for our edition of the Somerset Maugham Award-winning Jack and Jill, another long-lost classic from Helen Hodgman.

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