This sampler was a great teaser for Eliza Clark's short story collection! I loved Penance and Boy Parts, so I can't wait to read the whole collection!

Well that was delightfully weird 😂 I need to know what Little Chitaly's response was.

So this is a sample of Eliza's new book which is a collection of short stories. So I do suspect that perhaps the cliffhanger may be how the story ends, and I'll never get my ending.

This first look was odd though. It was just a series of Justeat reviews.

Anyway. Won't be for everyone. You gotta be weird. I'm weird. Loved it. Thanks for the sample!

“A teenager longs for perfect skin. A scientist tends to fragile alien flora. A young man takes the night into his own hands. Each of these characters has a desperate desire. Can any of them be sated?”

That tagline alone was enough to pique my interest in Eliza Clark’s debut short story collection, so I was excited about the opportunity to read a sample story in advance. The goal of a sample story is obviously to grab the readers attention and make them curious for the rest of the collection. I can wholeheartedly say: The Shadow Over Little Chitaly succeeded in that.
It’s a short story told entirely in a series of increasingly unhinged Google-/Tripadvisor-reviews for a Chinese-Italian take-away-restaurant, which may or may not exist, and/or serve calzones filled with banh mi noodles…
As far as sample-stories goes: it’s a bold choice. It’s alternative format makes me curious if more of the stories within the collection will make use of non-traditional structure. Unfortunately, the story itself did very little for me, as (due to this structure) there’s barely any story there to begin with.
As a standalone story, this is a 2/5-star read at best. As a teaser for what’s to come within this collection: my attention is definitely grabbed and I look forward to see what else Clark has in store.

Many thanks to Faber and Faber Ltd for providing me with a sampler in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

My greed for an advanced copy of the new Eliza Clark made me bypass details such as “the blurb”. Yes, I missed the part where it said it was a short story collection. However, I like a little sampler plate, and Eliza always brings the party, so I slid open the kindle expecting a tasty snack.

Sadly, all I got from ‘The Shadow of Little Chitaly’ was overwhelming blandness. Where was the innovation I’ve come to expect from Eliza? This thing felt like it had been excavated from the depths of a chest freezer from a time when mums went to Bejams. If this is a taste of what’s on offer from the rest of the book then I think I’ll cook at home.

This short story was like a cold finger buffet, a sampler of fictional rants and reviews for a random fusion takeaway. If scrolling pages of customer reviews on the JustEats app is your idea of entertainment, then you may enjoy this but I’m not forking around.

It’s a 2 ⭐️ review from a hungry customer. Thank you as always to #NetGalley for sending me this sampler #arc to read in exchange for my honest review.

I LOVE Eliza Clarke and this sampler just made me even more excited for the new release! Interesting format too!

I LOVED this little peek into She's always hungry! It left me hungry for more - and i cant wait for this to come out so i can read the full thing.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc of the first story.

I’m very excited about this whole collection, to be honest. I only wish I knew this would be a sampler and not the whole thing. I see the title has been edited since then, but when I got it I was very excited. Finding out it was only one story made me feel less excited.

☆ The Shadow Over Little Chitaly
A very weird story about a very weird restaurant that nobody really knows much about. Written in Google review format. Pretty entertaining to read. I had a lot of fun and I enjoyed the writing a lot. Makes me look forward to the whole collection. 4★

Unexpectedly this was actually a sampler eArc of just one story from Eliza Clark's debut short story collection "She's Always Hungry".
"The Shadow Over Little Chitaly" was a 4.5* read and bodes really well for the rest of the collection. Told just through JustEat reviews it's unsettling, unnerving and completely intriguing and has definitely whet the appetite for the full collection!

Thank you to Faber and Faber Ltd and Netgalley for an eArc of this She's Always Hungry Sampler in exchange for my honest and voluntary review

This is definitely quite a unique short story in terms of the style, but now I really want to read the whole book!!

It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that what I read was just one story out of the whole book. I legit finished it in 10 minutes and thought, "Wow, that was not what I was expecting." Then I hopped on Goodreads to see if anyone else had the same issue and realized it was just one story 😭. That said, I did enjoy the sample I received—it’s definitely giving off Black Mirror vibes!

Requested this without noticing it was just a sample (the titular short story, just a few pages told via JustEat reviews). I had already read this as I attended a book event for Eliza Clark and attendees were given this short story.

However, it's definitely massively entertaining and kind of creepy and if that sets the tone for the rest of the collection, I really can't wait!!

Thank you so much to the early access of this sampler! It’s safe to say that Eliza Clark is now firmly an auto-buy author for me, and after reading this teaser, this has intensified. I cannot wait to buy and read the full thing!!!

I’m not sure how to mark this as ‘partially’ read on goodreads, storygraph, Amazon but will definitely be posting about the sample on insta.

Thank you again!

The snippet I read was brilliant - weird and mysterious, told through JustEat reviews. However, when I requested this NetGalley did not say it was just a sample so you can imagine my disappointment!!

5 stars for Eliza Clarke though and can’t wait to read this in full.

Eerie, absurd and silly, this sampler was very enticing and am waiting impatiently for the full book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this sampler.

Eliza Clark does it again!

I absolutely loved this short story. There is a lot to unpack here. It's very creative and manages to be both funny/silly and eerily peppered (pun intended) with an underlying sense of dread. An excellent portrayal of the absurdity of our society and the world we live in (both the physical world and the virtual internet world) Bonus points for the fact that the Instagram account mentioned in the story actually exists! I wish the whole book was on Netgalley and not just a sampler. I can't wait to read the whole book.

*Switches tabs and pre-orders book*

Very excited for the rest of the short stories in this collection. I found the sample story fun in both style and content, genuinely laugh out loud funny. Twisty and full of character!

This was good, i expected more though. Hopefully the rest of the book can live up to the hype. It felt like it was lacking.

Bizarre, witty and utterly strange, this sampler was very enticing and I cannot wait to read the full book.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this sampler.

I'm always hungry for more Eliza Clark, one of the best modern authors with such a unique voice a dark humour that I love. This short story was exactly what I wanted, and I can't wait for the rest of the collection.

When I first requested this book I was unaware it was just a sampler so am certain this part was added to the title later, but that's fine as I enjoyed the few pages of the short story about 'Little Chitaly'.

I've definitely in my time ordered from a few places that this short story could have taken inspiration from!

The apple, the long distance delivery from the Australian in the bikers helmet (even though he arrived in a car) and poor Hannah who just couldn't get enough of those special pizzas had me laughing yet intrigued to read more!

I'll definitely be getting a full copy of this book upon release.