Wanting

<p><b>'A virtuosic portrait of desire and damage, <i>WANTING</i> explores the boundary between being wanted, consumed and obliterated. A book to devour.' Nell Stevens, author of <i>The Original</i> </b></p><p>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.</p><p>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...</p><p>An essential debut from one of the most exciting new voices in British fiction, <i>WANTING</i> is an extraordinary tale of innocence and experience, of beauty and decadence, and of the profound ways desires transform us.</p><p><b>'The best debut I've 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 <i>Sister Europe</i></b></p>