Jean by Madeleine Dunnigan games Kaveh Akbar's Martyr

Kaveh Akbar's Martyr

It’s Christmas Eve in London’s financial district

Anne Boleyn

all on the scale of The Borrowers

or the trick to entering the Goldilocks Zone)

Jean by Madeleine Dunnigan games Kaveh Akbar's MartyrA debut to look out for in 2026 for the Guardian, Stylist and Independent. Set over one hot summer, a startlingly assured debut about the kinds of love that break us and make us whole. One afternoon in 1976, teenagers Jean and Tom share an almost imperceptible look across the grounds of Compton Manor, a boarding school for boys with problems. Their gaze marks a secret intimacy, one defined as much by violence as by friendship and desire. As the boys