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Faber Faber, London On Friendship From the author of the Sunday Times bestseller Caledonian Road.
160 pages, Hardcover
Published October 9, 2025
About the author
Andrew O'Hagan
56 books789 followersAndrew O'Hagan, FRSL (born 1968) is a Scottish novelist and non-fiction author.
He is the author of the novels Our Fathers, Personality, and Be Near Me, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. His work has appeared in the London Review of Books, the New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and The Guardian (UK). In 2003, O’Hagan was named one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists. He lives in London, England.
He is the author of the novels Our Fathers, Personality, and Be Near Me, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. His work has appeared in the London Review of Books, the New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and The Guardian (UK). In 2003, O’Hagan was named one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists. He lives in London, England.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 15, 2026
My unforgiveably florid Goodreads update after finishing Chapter 2:
“Stunning. Delightful. Moving. Disarming. Poetically profound without pomp or pretence. Simultaneously vast and weightless and mesmerising...a passing, misty masterpiece, with the inevitable presence of a sunset cloud, no fuss, just that quiet, extravagant blush. His words read like...a friend.”
My mid-stream Judgement was not premature. This brief book of essays is a gem. It’s 140 pages have a golden quality - weighs more on the heart than it does in the hand.
I love O’Hagan’s disarming, honest yet poetic tone. Profound statements don’t have that throat-clearing, “Here I go…” bombast. They just slip by in the course of O’Hagan’s beguiling prose. I find myself half way through the next sentence when I’m stopped in my tracks and have to taking a few steps back to appreciate the beauty and profundity and truth he’s embedded so seamlessly. “I was too young to know I’d never be that young again…” (I still quote one of those gems from “Mayflies” - about how there are lots of things you don’t know when you’re 18 and lots of things you only know when you’re 18. And he does it with restraint, which adds power to the words. It’s the sort of thing that, when miscued (especially by the old) sounds preachy and indignant and opinionated. O’Hagan manages it so masterfully.)
A book of essays sounds a bit esoteric, the sort of thing best left to the artists, potters and academics. NO! Read this, O suburbanite! Join the huddle of friendship around words. It’s intimate, enriching, truthful, probing, uplifting, moving. By meditating on his own experiences of friendship, I found myself drawn, through O’Hagan’s friends, to ponder my own friends. That’s quite a gift - not simply the author’s talent, but what his words give. Like that moment he recounts when, as they drive through Ireland together, his elderly friend, Edna, lays her hand on his.
Another Andrew O’Hagan gem.
“Stunning. Delightful. Moving. Disarming. Poetically profound without pomp or pretence. Simultaneously vast and weightless and mesmerising...a passing, misty masterpiece, with the inevitable presence of a sunset cloud, no fuss, just that quiet, extravagant blush. His words read like...a friend.”
My mid-stream Judgement was not premature. This brief book of essays is a gem. It’s 140 pages have a golden quality - weighs more on the heart than it does in the hand.
I love O’Hagan’s disarming, honest yet poetic tone. Profound statements don’t have that throat-clearing, “Here I go…” bombast. They just slip by in the course of O’Hagan’s beguiling prose. I find myself half way through the next sentence when I’m stopped in my tracks and have to taking a few steps back to appreciate the beauty and profundity and truth he’s embedded so seamlessly. “I was too young to know I’d never be that young again…” (I still quote one of those gems from “Mayflies” - about how there are lots of things you don’t know when you’re 18 and lots of things you only know when you’re 18. And he does it with restraint, which adds power to the words. It’s the sort of thing that, when miscued (especially by the old) sounds preachy and indignant and opinionated. O’Hagan manages it so masterfully.)
A book of essays sounds a bit esoteric, the sort of thing best left to the artists, potters and academics. NO! Read this, O suburbanite! Join the huddle of friendship around words. It’s intimate, enriching, truthful, probing, uplifting, moving. By meditating on his own experiences of friendship, I found myself drawn, through O’Hagan’s friends, to ponder my own friends. That’s quite a gift - not simply the author’s talent, but what his words give. Like that moment he recounts when, as they drive through Ireland together, his elderly friend, Edna, lays her hand on his.
Another Andrew O’Hagan gem.
November 8, 2025
I was gifted a physical advanced reader copy of this book by the publisher.
What does friendship mean to you? I had the honour of receiving this beautiful advanced reader copy of On Friendship by Andrew O’Hagan. A beautiful and insightful view into one of life’s most important relationships. This collection was emotional and impactful and well worth the read. Thank you so much to Faber Books for sending this to me.
What does friendship mean to you? I had the honour of receiving this beautiful advanced reader copy of On Friendship by Andrew O’Hagan. A beautiful and insightful view into one of life’s most important relationships. This collection was emotional and impactful and well worth the read. Thank you so much to Faber Books for sending this to me.
December 7, 2025
Confession for me: I've never read any of Andrew O'Hagan's books, not Mayflies (but I may do so now).
I picked this book up from the neighbourhood library while waiting for my wife's hair appointment, out of the lists of new books, and was gripped by the author's very earnest and candid recollection of his friends and friendships.
There are mentions of true friends, fake/shallow friends, actor friends, elder friends, friends who pass (die, or just fade away due to distance or time), friends who are meant to be let go, animal friends, and imaginary friends - all of which are real to a person and his/her life.
I was surprised how such a short book could be so truthful, and how it reminds us to let go where it's ok, and where friendships go beyond transactional, which on surface seems to be that, but goes a lot more beyond; with loyalty, unwavering trust, and innocence.
A worthy read that is at least mostly autobiographical, sharing his personal stories and life, quite amazingly packed in 137 pages.
I picked this book up from the neighbourhood library while waiting for my wife's hair appointment, out of the lists of new books, and was gripped by the author's very earnest and candid recollection of his friends and friendships.
There are mentions of true friends, fake/shallow friends, actor friends, elder friends, friends who pass (die, or just fade away due to distance or time), friends who are meant to be let go, animal friends, and imaginary friends - all of which are real to a person and his/her life.
I was surprised how such a short book could be so truthful, and how it reminds us to let go where it's ok, and where friendships go beyond transactional, which on surface seems to be that, but goes a lot more beyond; with loyalty, unwavering trust, and innocence.
A worthy read that is at least mostly autobiographical, sharing his personal stories and life, quite amazingly packed in 137 pages.
October 26, 2025
A short but poignant set of reflections on the nature of friendship. It’s almost a non-fiction adjunct to his wonderful novel “Mayflies”. Both works have moments of profundity & are deeply moving. I heartily recommend both.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews