Erotica
![K Patrick - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B0C6RCK25H.jpg)
Mrs. S
A BEST BOOK OF SUMMER 2023
A JULY 2023 INDIE NEXT PICK
A sublime and sensual debut novel exploring the nature of queer love and attraction, the transformative power of desire, and the dissonance between self and place, by White Review Fiction Prize shortlisted writer K Patrick
In an elite English boarding school where the girls kiss the marble statue of the famous dead author who used to walk the halls, a butch antipodean outsider arrives to take up the antiquated role of "matron." Within this landscape of immense privilege, where difference is met with hostility, the matron finds herself unsure of her role, her accent and her body.
That is until she meets Mrs. S, the headmaster's wife, a woman who is her polar opposite-an assured, authoritative paragon of femininity. Over the course of a long, restless summer, their unspoken yearning blooms into an illicit affair of electric intensity. But, as the summer fades, a choice must be made.
Seductive, stylish, and disarmingly wry, K Patrick's bold and revelatory debut smolders with the heat of summer as it explores the queer experience and the force of forbidden love.
A JULY 2023 INDIE NEXT PICK
A sublime and sensual debut novel exploring the nature of queer love and attraction, the transformative power of desire, and the dissonance between self and place, by White Review Fiction Prize shortlisted writer K Patrick
In an elite English boarding school where the girls kiss the marble statue of the famous dead author who used to walk the halls, a butch antipodean outsider arrives to take up the antiquated role of "matron." Within this landscape of immense privilege, where difference is met with hostility, the matron finds herself unsure of her role, her accent and her body.
That is until she meets Mrs. S, the headmaster's wife, a woman who is her polar opposite-an assured, authoritative paragon of femininity. Over the course of a long, restless summer, their unspoken yearning blooms into an illicit affair of electric intensity. But, as the summer fades, a choice must be made.
Seductive, stylish, and disarmingly wry, K Patrick's bold and revelatory debut smolders with the heat of summer as it explores the queer experience and the force of forbidden love.
Editorial Reviews
"Patrick's staccato sentences add a layer of choppy, additional drama to the text...powerful and confident...I could wax on about the sensuality of Patrick's narrative."-Kristen Arnett, The New York Times Book Review
★ "Patrick's deft manipulation of narrative time and use of interior monologue to describe the tensions among thought, intention, and action recall the work of Virginia Woolf... The drama of the forbidden affair keeps the reader voraciously turning the pages, but on a deeper level, the novel also offers an incisive and nuanced reflection on self-evolution as the narrator navigates the complexities of gender identity, social power, and the dynamic tension between private and public selves. An erotic yet high-minded literary achievement."-Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
"Revelatory... Patrick makes palpable the compromises required by secret love, and though the romance is aching and well crafted, what emerges above all is a fascinating character portrait, that of a woman obscure to the world but radiant inside."-Publishers Weekly
"I was hypnotized by this ecstatic, erotic debut, written, it seems, in such a way as to remove everything possible (exposition, backstory, mundane descriptions, dialogue tags) to get closer to an experience of pure want... It is the first contemporary novel I have read in recent memory that I feel tempted to compare to Virginia Woolf, if only for the elasticity of time and the primacy of internal churn to create drama and dissonance. (But there's rather more sex.)"-Emily Temple, LitHub, "The 28 Novels You Need to Read This Summer"
"Patrick's poetic, at times elliptical prose style is perfect for building erotic tension."-Shayne Terry, Chicago Review of Books
"A thrillingly evocative debut from a superb young writer...5/5 stars."-Lucy Scholes, Telegraph UK
"The novel's strength lies in the ratcheting up of longing, culminating in passionate sex as the heatwave summer continues... Atmospheric and daring...beautifully written."-Joanna Briscoe, The Guardian
"K Patrick's firs...
★ "Patrick's deft manipulation of narrative time and use of interior monologue to describe the tensions among thought, intention, and action recall the work of Virginia Woolf... The drama of the forbidden affair keeps the reader voraciously turning the pages, but on a deeper level, the novel also offers an incisive and nuanced reflection on self-evolution as the narrator navigates the complexities of gender identity, social power, and the dynamic tension between private and public selves. An erotic yet high-minded literary achievement."-Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
"Revelatory... Patrick makes palpable the compromises required by secret love, and though the romance is aching and well crafted, what emerges above all is a fascinating character portrait, that of a woman obscure to the world but radiant inside."-Publishers Weekly
"I was hypnotized by this ecstatic, erotic debut, written, it seems, in such a way as to remove everything possible (exposition, backstory, mundane descriptions, dialogue tags) to get closer to an experience of pure want... It is the first contemporary novel I have read in recent memory that I feel tempted to compare to Virginia Woolf, if only for the elasticity of time and the primacy of internal churn to create drama and dissonance. (But there's rather more sex.)"-Emily Temple, LitHub, "The 28 Novels You Need to Read This Summer"
"Patrick's poetic, at times elliptical prose style is perfect for building erotic tension."-Shayne Terry, Chicago Review of Books
"A thrillingly evocative debut from a superb young writer...5/5 stars."-Lucy Scholes, Telegraph UK
"The novel's strength lies in the ratcheting up of longing, culminating in passionate sex as the heatwave summer continues... Atmospheric and daring...beautifully written."-Joanna Briscoe, The Guardian
"K Patrick's firs...
Readers Top Reviews
Yvonne Whiteman
I gave up halfway through because my brain could not accustom itself to text with no speechmarks. I kept having to read things twice to work out who was speaking. This is a serious flaw, however fresh the approach to non-binary lust.
