‘When God was a Rabbit’ by Sarah Winman

And I wrote about what I’d lost that morning. The witness of my soul, my shadow in childhood, when dreams were small and attainable for all. When sweets were a penny and god was a rabbit.

‘When God was a Rabbit’ by Sarah Winman is divided into two parts: the Before and the After. However, Winman clarifies that it's “not really a Before and After, more as if they are bookends.” Part One is set in the late 1960s and 1970s, Part Two is set in the mid-1990s and early 2000s on both sides of the Atlantic.

Eleanor Maud Portman, called Elly, grows up in Essex. Her parents are charmingly eccentric, and her brother Joe, who is five years older, is her constant companion and protector. Elly feels lonely and friendless, so one Christmas, Joe gives her a rabbit—God.

Soon after, Elly meets Jenny Penny. Jenny was raised by a single mother and a never-ending row of ‘uncles.’ And she seems to have a particular connection to otherworldly powers.

This book is a beautiful story of friendship, family in all its forms, love, sex, and life, but also about loss and grief.

CW: child, sexual, and domestic abuse, alcoholism, mental illness, cancer