Cleaner, Jess Shannon
Cleaner, Jess Shannon
List: $18.99 | Sale: $13.29
Club: $9.49

Cleaner

Author: Jess Shannon

Narrator: Charlie Sanderson

Unabridged: 5 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/17/2026

Categories: Fiction, Satire, Women


Synopsis

“Forget the rock and roll, this debut is about sex, drugs and a serious obsession with cleaning.” —ELLE

“[A] gem of a debut novel...funny, vibrant, and utterly unpredictable.” —Service95

A disaffected young woman’s work as a cleaner takes her on an increasingly surreal search for a creative fulfillment, gainful employment, and the meaning of life in this sharp, tragicomic debut—perfect for fans of Melissa Broder, Jen Beagin, and Alexandra Tanner.

A young artist returns to her childhood home, with a host of degrees and diplomas in her back pocket. But when forced to confront the reality that the world sees no use for her scholarly exploits, she must find a job—and quickly.

Overqualified, underemployed, and idle, she starts a job as a cleaner for a gallery, where she meets another aspiring artist—Isabella—and they begin a passionate affair. Isabella could not be more different from the cleaner: she’s elegant, successful…and living with her filthy rich boyfriend Paul.

Isabella sneaks the cleaner into her life by hiring her to scrub the apartment she shares with Paul. Little by little, the cleaner relaxes into the comfort of her new surroundings. But when Isabella leaves the apartment one day and doesn’t come back, the cleaner is left to decide whether to back to her old life—or stay and step into Isabella’s.

About Jess Shannon

Jess Shannon is a writer from Birmingham UK and a proud graduate of the Warwick Writing Programme. She completed her MA in writing in 2021. She spends most of her free time at the theatre and hates cleaning. 


Reviews

Goodreads review by George on September 22, 2025

Devoured this in two days. Sort of like Fleabag meets After Hours, but also completely unique. Had me laugh out loud several times!......more

Goodreads review by Yasmin on March 07, 2026

this was beyond random but i couldn’t put it down im not sure if half of it was a dream or not because the narrator is so unreliable but it was very interesting and i’ve never read a book like it!!......more

Goodreads review by jason on February 04, 2026

"Cleaner" follows an unnamed art school graduate taking a job as a cleaner to make ends meet after struggling to find work in her field. while working a shift at an art gallery, she meets and becomes infatuated with a woman named Isabella. after a series of separations and reconnections, Isabella va......more

Goodreads review by Emily on February 19, 2026

Written as one long stream of consciousness with no chapters or quotation marks, there is very little structure to guide you through this fever dream of a story. We follow an unnamed narrator, a young artist drifting through post-grad life, feeling lost and making increasingly chaotic decisions. The......more

Goodreads review by ari on March 04, 2026

stream of consciousness is really hit or miss for me. this time was a miss.......more


Quotes

"Narrator Charlie Sanderson assures listeners that the unnamed protagonist of Shannon’s electric debut doesn’t take herself too seriously. Sanderson’s comedic timing is sublime, lending a necessary self-deprecating air to the minxy anti-hero. This rudderless young woman is not easy to like but listeners will undoubtedly find themselves rooting for her, chaotic tendencies and all. The holder of many evidently useless degrees, the protagonist puts herself to work as a cleaner and drifts into a love triangle with her clients. Sanderson never falters in this sexy and scathing examination of post-graduate life, labor, gender, and the nearly orgasmic satisfaction of a nice, clean kitchen."

"There’s a delightful conundrum in the messiness of this slim, whirlwind tale about cleanliness."