Mrs. S

"★ ""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 ""Mrs. S is a novel in which a different kind of love--self-acceptance--conquers all.""--Foreword Reviews ""Such a delicately detailed fresco of longing that, upon finishing, I felt the incongruous sensation of watching a bird sleep. I can't explain why; I only know I love this book. K Patrick is a writer to whom I now can't help but return.""--Zain Khalid, author of Brother Alive ""Mrs. S oozes with erotic tension from the start. It is a story so seductively and intelligently observed that its pulse continues long after the final page. To dismantle a certain queer narrative into something else is rare and thrilling. I haven't read anything quite like it. Yes. I loved it.""--Sarah Winman, author of Still Life ""A voluptuous performance in the art of withholding, taut with anticipation through the final line.""--Lillian Fishman, author of Acts of Service ""I loved this book in ways I no longer know how to express in a blurb...K Patrick's watchful measured prose simmers.""--Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl ""Mrs. S is sublime--at once a languorous slow-burn and a moving reflection on queerness and what it is to be and be seen. I loved this book.""--Julia Armfield, author of Our Wives Under the Sea ""A beautifully crafted and uncannily accomplished debut.""--Rupert Thomson, author of Barcelona Dreaming ""An extraordinary novel: poignant and tough, tender and unsentimental...Deeply warm and generous, optimistic in spite of its clear-eyed realism.""--Marina Kemp, author of Nightingale"