Wanting

A virtuosic portrait of desire and damage, WANTING explores the boundary between being wanted, consumed and obliterated. A book to devour. Nell Stevens, author of The Original

Every September, a small number of artists, writers and musicians gather in a country house on the far edge of the English coast. Built into the cliff face with views of the vast Atlantic, it offers inspiration – but also escape. Each night, at the dining room’s long, laden table, the world outside is forgotten, and appetites begin to stir.

Ava, young and beautiful, comes because she once did, and now has nothing better to do. Christopher, married, middle-aged and wildly charismatic, comes to play the piano. Alasdair, less notable but no less gifted a musician, is his oldest friend. In the warmth of drunkenness, the shock of the cold sea and the flicker of candlelight, regret is roused and obsession ignited...

An essential debut from one of the most exciting new voices in British fiction, WANTING is an extraordinary tale of innocence and experience, of beauty and decadence, and of the profound ways desires transform us.

The best debut Ive read in a long time. Some scenes were so perfectly written that I later caught myself thinking they had happened to me! Nell Zink, author of Sister Europe