‘Powerful ? A moving story of female desire, ambition and renewal’ Kit de Waal

*****

A powerful and moving debut novel about coming of age again post-marriage and post-menopause.

Claire’s life isn’t how she thought it would be when she moves into Hunter’s Moon. Her long marriage is over, her children have flown the nest, and her work as an illustrator no longer satisfies her. She isn’t sure who she is now or what she wants from her life.

It wasn’t always like this. Once, she had desires and ambitions.

When her octogenarian neighbour, Tansy, suffers a fall, Claire’s solitude is broken. Under the older woman’s guidance, she finds solace and a new sense of purpose in regenerating her wild garden. And as the plants grow, Claire retreads the bittersweet journey that brought her to the second half of her life.

This is a story of love. Of friendship and desire, of art and nature, of finding love for yourself and for life itself. It is a story of coming of age, once again, of giving up one’s safety net and embracing a new life beyond.

‘This book will break your heart, mend it, and send you away with hope’ Lucy Rose, author of The Lamb

‘Paradise brings the reader on a journey of both pleasure and pain’ Madeline Docherty, author of Gender Theory

‘With fluid prose reminiscent of both Jessica Andrews’ watercolour-esque writing and Coco Mellors’ sculpted syntax’ Jessie Elland, author of The Ladie Upstairs

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Sara is twenty-five. She has never used a tampon without having a panic attack.

She starts dating Miles. For three months, they don’t touch. Miles respects her boundaries, though he longs for them to melt away. Sara desires Miles, but she knows her body, or rather she knows it is an unknowable thing.

Sara wants to be in love, to find a person who allows her to be herself. Someone who is happy with everything she is and everything she isn’t. Miles hopes he won’t hurt her.

But how do you navigate a relationship for which there is no blueprint? How do you love someone when your body is not your own, and how do you reclaim it?

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Readers adore OVERSPILL?

‘A gorgeous, aching, generous novel – this is the kind of book that demands to be passed between friends’?????

‘Hugely moving’?????

‘Unashamedly explores the barriers to female desire and the ways our bodies tell us what we’ve been trying to ignore.’?????

‘Beautiful?I absolutely devoured it’?????

Una Marson was unstoppable-a poet whose words lit up hearts, a broadcaster who made history in 1941 as the first Black woman on the BBC, and an activist who fought fiercely for racial and gender equality. She brought Caribbean culture to the global stage, challenged prejudice head-on, and dared to imagine a better world. Yet history nearly erased her.

From the streets of 1920s Kingston, Jamaica, to the heart of British broadcasting during World War II, Una’s journey was one of resilience, ambition, and brilliance. She shared ideas with George Orwell, held her ground with T.S. Eliot, and used her voice to amplify the silenced while navigating a world unprepared for her genius.

Calling Una Marson restores this trailblazing woman to her rightful place in history. Through meticulous research and vivid storytelling, it celebrates her dazzling, difficult life and the legacy of courage, creativity, and justice she left behind.