Shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award (2003) plus two other international prizes, this is one of the brightest stars in the literary firmament at the moment. With a novel portraying first love, its pain and its ecstasy with little regard for the consequence, this is powerful, lyrical stuff. Comparisons: Josephine Hart, Rachel Cusk, Anne Michaels. Similar this month: Maria Beaumont, Anita Shreve.
After months away, Emily returns to London and to a family on the verge of disintegration. She spends nights in cramped bars, drinking and smoking with her beautiful but damaged boyfriend Tom and his friends. It is a lifestyle that leaves her feeling directionless and jaded. In her search to believe in something or someone, she finds herself irresistibly drawn to Simon, Tom’s complex and charming cousin. But Simon is married, and as he and Emily become closer and the summer draws to an end they are forced to make decisions that will have a devastating effect on both families.
‘So lucent, so resonant, so exquisitely written and above all, so engaging' Tim Lott
‘Its denouement ought to surprise none but Emily herself, cast adrift in her own love stories, yet An Empty Room echoes with the dreamy unreality of a hot summer night’ Observer
‘Written with honesty and an element of wistfulness which combine in a voice that is clear and true' Raffaella Barker
Author
About Talitha Stevenson
Talitha Stevenson was educated in London and Oxford where she read English. A reluctant academic, Talitha left Oxford to study art history in Florence – the non-traditional way – living an impoverished artist’s existence. On returning to London, she began work on her first novel - An Empty Room - while writing for a number of national newspapers and magazines.
Talitha Stevenson’s first novel An Empty Room was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award 2003, the Best First Book Award in the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Eurasia Region), and the Pendleton May First Novel Award.
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