Rosewater: the debut novel from Liv Little
£0.90
THE HOTTEST DEBUT NOVEL OF 2023
“Frank, sexy, and so tender. Little’s pen shines” Bolu Babalola, author of Love in Colour
“A beautifully rendered story about love’s possibilities and its limits. I laughed, I cried, couldn’t put it down” Monica Heisey, author of Really Good, Actually
“An effervescent and irresistible new voice” Coco Mellors, author of Cleopatra and Frankenstein
“A wonderfully fresh, zesty and sexy debut novelist who is putting black queer lives, loves and longings centre stage, where they belong” Bernardine Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, Other
“Full of energy, wit and excitement, this is a book to watch” Stylist
“Bold debut novel . . . free-spirited . . . amazing” Cosmopolitan
“A paeon to a queer love affair that’s sexy, complex and romantic. Effortlessly capturing our uncertain zeitgeist” Evening Standard
Elsie is a sexy, funny, and fiercely independent woman living in South London. But, at just 28, she is also tired. Though she spends her days writing tender poetry in her journal, her nights are spent working long hours for minimum wage at a neighbourhood gay bar.
The difficulty of being estranged from her family, struggle of being continually rejected from jobs, and fear of never making money doing what she loves, is too great. But Elsie is determined to keep the faith, for a little longer at least. Things will surely turn around. They have to.
As she tries to breathe through the panic attacks, sleeping with her hot and spirited co-worker Bea isn’t exactly straightforward and offers Elsie just another place to hide.
As Elsie tries to reconnect with her best friend Juliet, her fragile world spirals out of control. Can Elsie steady herself and not fall through the cracks?
The must-read debut of 2023, Rosewater is an ideal gift for fans of Candice Carty-Williams, Sally Rooney and Mendez.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Dialogue Books (20 April 2023) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 2153 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Not Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 336 pages |
| Page numbers source ISBN | 1408717050 |
by Mrs. K. A. Wheatley
Elsie is exhausted. At 28 she is approaching burn out. A dysfunctional family dynamic that saw her moving out to fend for herself at sixteen means that she has never had a real chance at stability or a sense of home. Her spoken word career is exciting but also frightening and it just doesn’t pay, so Elsie works in bars and lives off scraps and debt until everything starts to fall apart and the bailiffs move in. Falling back on her oldest friend for help brings her face to face with some uncomfortable truths, but also the chance to start again.
Elsie is such a great character, flawed, charming, loveable and damaged, she is also a scrapper and you find yourself rooting for her but also wanting to give her a good shake. She feels like family.
This is a later life coming of age story where circumstances have forced someone to grow old before their time and they have to come back around and do over. A queer, black love story that is gorgeously rendered and superbly readable.
by I. Jones
I bought this novel after listening to an interview with the author on BBC’s Woman’s Hour. I didn’t need much convincing to buy it. The presenter made a stronger pitch for the novel than the author, but hearing Liv Little talk made me think reading “Rosewater” would be good for me – and I was right.
The star of the novel is Elsie, a poet who happens to be a young Black woman. The novel begins with her eviction from her plywood studio flat for rent arrears. That struck a chord with me as I was forced out of my tenancy a year ago when the landlord decided to turn my flat into three plywood studios. So despite the massive demographic differences between Elsie and me, I was on her side from the get-go. Then we follow Elsie as she tries to make a living as a poet against a background of poverty, homelessness and less than satisfactory relationships with family and lovers. All the while she is trying to rebuild the most important relationship she has – her friendship with Juliet.
I won’t spoil the plot. Things happen and Elsie moves on in her life. When you finish the novel you start looking forward to the sequel.
One of my favourite lines is, “There is a damp cloud of grey hanging over Peckham….” As I live just a mile or so from Peckham I can see that cloud. A great feature of the novel, alongside the author’s prose, is the poetry of Kai-Isaiah Jamal, which brilliantly complements the novel and reflects Elsie and her situation: “You ask me where home is/ And I say here……/ Or here?/ As if I don’t know….”
It’s easy to compare and contrast “Rosewater” with Candice Carty-Williams’ “Queenie”, another novel about a young Black woman navigating her way around south London in the era of BLM and #MeToo. I would also compare it with another novel I read recently: “What’s Good Is Easy To Get” by Aurora Peralta. That novel is about a young Black woman trying to leave her past behind and discovering her sexuality and what friendship is or can be. Reading all three novels back-to-back gives you an insight into a marginalised world that Bernadine Evaristo says ought to be “centre stage”. All three are highly recommended, starting with this one.
by Kindle Customer
If there’s one book you read this year make sure it’s this one!
by Lizzie
Absolutely loved this novel of being a total mess, trying to make art, not dealing with your feelings, growing up with weird family dynamics. It’s beautiful and gritty and man do you want Elsie to wake up but also get the girl. I loved it!
When Elsie wakes up to find she’s being evicted from her first home while her hot coworker slash friends with benefits Bea is in her bed, things really start to unravel. Her poetry work is slacking, her minimum wage job at the bar is barely enough to get by, and she’s had to move in with her BFF Juliet even though things have been… weird between them for a good six months. In fact, they’ve barely spoken. Until now. Can things start to turn around for her?
There’s also so much Black queer history and London packed into this beautiful book, as well as a wonderful sapphic romance (friends to lovers, one of my faves). And it was so nice to read the poetry that Elsie writes *in the text* which imo shows Little’s talent as a writer.
I loved Elsie’s growth as a character – I personally find stuck characters who can’t move forward until they unpack their history and baggage so relatable (think Double Booked by Lily Lindon from last year) and even when I was frustrated I really was rooting for Elsie so hard!
It’s also so sexy and horny and hot, with luscious writing and a compelling character and story, making it a perfect summer read.
by Caitlin Corkery
Elsie is a queer, black poet who works nights at an old dive bar on the verge of closing. She is sexy, funny and appears to be confident on the outside but her life is falling apart.
This book has had me feeling all the emotions. Cried, laughed, burst of anger , even had me hot and bothered. The way Liv writes I truly felt everything on the page. I felt my heart breaking for Elsie, really felt her anger, her guilt,her pain, and her joy. There were a few parts that made me want to call my mum.
This is the kind of book I feel would make a fabulous movie!
This is one of my favourite reads this year, I’ve recommended it to loads of people and I got through it so quickly, I never wanted to put it down. I look forward to more of Liv’s writing in the future. Thanks to @dialoguepublishing and @netgalley for an advanced copy.
**This book was provided to me as an ARC on netgalley, and this is an honest review of the material. I was not paid or asked to supply a review for this book and am doing so because I truly enjoyed the content.
by Eleanor Smith
I raced through this book and finished this in one day! The pacing was great and I was very invested in Elsie’s life and her relationships. I loved the focus on black and queer culture. Although I understand very little about poetry, the poems interspersed through the story were beautiful.
The ending however felt very slightly rushed and almost a bit out of place, so I have to give this 4 stars rather than 5.