In at the Deep End

A Finalist for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction One of Autostraddle. 's Best Queer Books of 2019 A deliciously disarming debut novel about a twenty-something Londoner who discovers that she may have been looking for love-and pleasure-in all the wrong places (i. e. , from men). Julia has had enough. Enough of the sex noises her roommate makes. Enough of her dead-end government job. Enough of the one-night stand who accused her of breaking his penis. The only thing she hasn't had enough of is orgasms; she hasn't had proper sex in three years. So when Julia gets invited to a warehouse party in a part of town where trendy people who have lots of sex go on a Friday night, she readily accepts. And that night she meets someone: a figurative artist who also happens to be a woman. Julia's sexual awakening begins; her new lesbian life is exhilarating. She finds her tribe at queer swing-dancing classes, and guided by her new lover Sam, she soon discovers London's gay bars and BDSM clubs-and the complexities of polyamory. Soon it becomes clear that Sam needs to call the shots, and Julia's newfound liberation comes to bear a suspicious resemblance to entrapment. In at the Deep End. is an unforgettable and audacious odyssey through the pitfalls and seductions we encounter on the treacherous path to love and self.