Small World (2008 novel)

"Small World" is a novel by Matt Beaumont, published in 2008. It tells the story of a group of people living in North London as their paths cross and collide in unexpected ways, bringing a new layer to the sense of "six degrees of separation".

Characters

*Kate Lister - Kate is a high-powered businesswoman who never spends too much money but is too focussed on her career to worry too much about her family. That is, until she is fired.
*Marco Lister - Marco is Kate's quiet husband with powerful eyes. He becomes embroiled in a murder case after stalking Ali.
*Christie - Christie is the Listers' Australian au pair who is anything but happy in England.
*Ali Heath - Ali is a tough woman who cannot conceive and so has undergone IVF for the past five years to try to get pregnant. She owns the shop Heaven.
*Paul Heath - Paul is Ali's journalist husband. He is very put-upon by Ali and is eventually killed in a hit and run.
*Keith - Keith is a self-loathing policeman with a very bad temper who does some horrible things, including raping his girlfriend before leaving her and killing a man during a hit and run.
*Siobhan Gethen - Siobhan is the best friend of Ali and slightly newer friend of Kate. She has four children.
*Dom Gethen - Dom is Siobhan's minor celebrity husband. He is a stand-up comic who has appeared on many TV panel shows. He thinks Marco looks like a serial killer.
*Pam - Pam is Keith's curvy girlfriend who wants confirmation that the relationship is moving forwards.
*Janet Graham - Janet is a middle-aged woman who has come from Yorkshire to visit her ill husband in London.
*Michele - Michele is a mixed-race girl in her late teens who seems to have a shady past but has put it (mostly) behind her to work with Ali in Heaven.
*Steve - Steve is an alcoholic tramp who wanders North London causing havoc.
*Rob - Rob is Keith's sex-mad colleague.
*Jenka - Jenka is a Czech au pair who is saving up to get a nose job.
*Carlton - Carlton is a black teenager. He is very tall with long hair and is always being arrested by the police for things he hasn't done.
*Marcia - Marcia is Carlton's mother and a nurse at the nearest NHS hospital. She is religious and worries a lot about her son.
*Jaz - Jaz is a waiter in his father's Indian restaurant who dreams of becoming a stand-up comic.
*362 - "362" is a Nigerian traffic warden who crops up a couple of times in the story and is beaten up at one point.

Character Links

All of the characters have run-ins with one another throughout the story. Kate, for example, works with Pam but is at one point stopped for dangerous driving by Keith (Pam's boyfriend). Marco stalks Ali as he is seemingly in love with her, and later meets her when attending a dinner party held by Siobhan. Carlton and Michele are good friends. Steve steals from Christie and is later loud in the cinema, ruining the film for, among others, Jenka.

Many of the characters are unaware of their links with one another.