Cleaner

Author: Jess Shannon

Genre: Literary Fiction

A woman in her mid-twenties moves back home to live with her parents, where her listlessness fuels an obsession with cleaning, and sets in motion a series of events that lead to her posing as a model in a nude gallery where she encounters a woman whose life will intertwine with her own.

“Touching on themes of loneliness, intimacy, art and isolation, Cleaner is also funny, vibrant and utterly unpredictable”
- Service95, Dua Lipa’s Book Club Platform

“Its magnetism and effortless backflips reminded me a lot of Raven Leilani’s Luster, like reading a painting. She’s an incredible talent”
- Julia Raeside, author of Don’t Make Me Laugh

“Shannon’s debut is a tremendous display of talent. Contemporary in its composition and fearless to experiment, the book elegantly makes bold thematic suggestions which avoid heavy-handedness”
- Gonzalo Ceron Garcia, author of We Are The End

“An utterly unflinching debut novel about becoming adrift: a rare and profound book about loneliness, self-expression and disillusionment, featuring sex, love, drugs – and cleaning”
- Ian Sansom

“This stream of consciousness story of a queer woman's post-grad life really embodies the unsettled and messy nature of finding yourself in your mid-twenties.  A "weird girl" book that will have you considering it long after you have finished”
- Blaes Green, The Book & Cover

“Packed with strangely enlightening prose and dry college-girl humor, Cleaner by Jess Shannon is perfect for all the recent grads out there who don't quite know what's next for them in life. Our narrator manages to be both deeply relatable and mildly insufferable, yet endearing. A delightful and quick read”
- Bob Lingle, Good Neighbor Bookstore

“This debut is a feminist Trainspotting for the social media generation. CLEANER heralds Jess Shannon as a new literary voice to sit on lemon-fresh shelves alongside Sally Rooney”
- Gibran Graham, The Briar Patch

“Brilliantly funny and disorienting novel about art, queerness (and hetero housewifery), and the relentlessness of adulthood—questions will go unanswered, and you’ll realize they never mattered!”
- Julia Lewis, Fountain Bookstore

“A little bit naughty, a little bit crazy, and a lot of fun, this is the perfect book for readers who like a wickedly good book!”
- Kathy Mailloux, East City Bookshop

“Hilary Leichter/Jen Beagin/Halle Butler-esque. The Camus to Kate Folk's Melville (at least for a brief moment there). I don't know what I just read but it was deeply, deeply funny, and really hard to put down.”
- Kyra Perlmutter, Politics & Prose

“I know 2026 is barely getting started, but I’m already itching to call this my favorite book of the year. From the very first line, I could tell this was going to be phenomenal, and it did not disappoint. I truly, truly had the best time going down this rabbit hole of a novel. Propulsive, confounding, odd, and a wild, mess of a ride! A must-read debut. I am in awe of this one!”
- Mirna Villeda, Timbre Books

“A worthy read for fans of Eliza Clark and Melissa Broder, Cleaner explores both obsession and detachment within the same breath”
- Oliver Ditenhafer, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews

“CLEANER by Jess Shannon is a haunting, hysterical, desperate (!), and insightful stream-of-consciousness bildungsroman, which explores life, death, art, passion, and, most importantly, self-actualization. CLEANER is reminiscent of Camus, Kafka, Joyce, and Hawthorne all in one.”
- Mike Yetter, Joseph Beth Booksellers