Birdy Arbuthnot’s Year of ‘Yes’

‘I suspect that in Soho anything can happen and frequently does.’1960 is knocking on the door, and eighteen-year-old Margaret ‘Birdy’ Arbuthnot, presently of Surbiton, wants more than her current existence in the dull suburbs. She wants to LIVE – in capital letters! Could Soho, with its bright lights and dark corridors, hold the key to a life more novel-like and less… Surrey? (Even if Mummy thinks it is a square mile of vice, full of men with overly shiny shoes.)At the cusp of the new year, Birdy resolves to only say ‘yes’ to everything for the next twelve months. She can’t possibly realise that her biggest ‘yes’ will launch her directly into the London orbit of the aristocratic Mannering family, and transform her life into one worth writing novels about. The joyfully funny companion novel to A Calamity of Mannerings, by Carnegie-nominated bestselling author Joanna Nadin.

‘I suspect that in Soho anything can happen and frequently does.’

1960 is knocking on the door, and eighteen-year-old Margaret ‘Birdy’ Arbuthnot, presently of Surbiton, wants more than her current existence in the dull suburbs. She wants to LIVE – in capital letters! Could Soho, with its bright lights and dark corridors, hold the key to a life more novel-like and less… Surrey? (Even if Mummy thinks it is a square mile of vice, full of men with overly shiny shoes.)

At the cusp of the new year, Birdy resolves to only say ‘yes’ to everything for the next twelve months. She can’t possibly realise that her biggest ‘yes’ will launch her directly into the London orbit of the aristocratic Mannering family, and transform her life into one worth writing novels about. 

The joyfully funny companion novel to A Calamity of Mannerings, by Carnegie-nominated bestselling author Joanna Nadin. 

• | Author: Joanna Nadin
• | Publisher: Fox & Ink Books
• | Publication Date: May 15, 2025
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language:
• | Binding: Paperback / softback
• | ISBN-13: 9781916747654
• | ISBN-10: 1916747655