Mrs S

(Paperback)

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An Observer Best Debut of the Year
A Granta Best of Young British Novelists

Oozes with erotic tension from the start Sarah Winman, author of Still Life

Sublime I loved this book Julia Armfield, author of Our Wives Under the Sea
Moody, generous and brilliant Jessie Burton, author of The House of Fortune

Tense, taut and exhilarating Monica Heisey, author of Really Good, Actually

Ive completely fallen for the astonishing Mrs S Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

Powerfully sensual and sublimely stylish, Mrs S is a tale of queer love that smoulders with the heat of summer.

In an elite English boarding school where the girls kiss the marble statue of the famous dead author who used to walk the halls, a young Australian woman arrives to take up the antiquated role of matron. Within this landscape of immense privilege, in which the girls can sense the slightest weakness in those around them, she finds herself unsure of her role, her accent and her body.

That is until she meets Mrs S, the headmasters wife, a woman who is her polar opposite: assured, sophisticated, a paragon of femininity. Over the course of a long, restless heatwave, the matron finds herself irresistibly drawn ever closer into Mrs Ss world and their unspoken desire blooms into an illicit affair of electric intensity. But, as the summer begins to fade, both women know that a choice must be made.

K Patricks portrait of the butch experience is revelatory; exploring the contested terrain of our bodies, our desires and the constraints society places around both. Mrs S marks the arrival of a major new literary talent, unlike any other.

The intense physicality of the novels emotions and its stylish, stripped-back prose make for an arresting pairing Observer

Atmospheric and daring Guardian

Theres nothing else like it out there The Times

Bold and beautiful Desire crackles through these pages like fire Telegraph

Entirely captivating New York Times

Reading Mrs S is a delicious experience Rupert Thomson, author of Never Anyone But You

Reviews

The intense physicality of the novels emotions and its stylish, stripped-back prose make for an arresting pairing Hephzibah Anderson, Observer

Atmospheric and daring Guardian

Theres nothing else like it out there The Times

Bold and beautiful Desire crackles through these pages like fire Telegraph

Entirely captivating Patricks staccato sentences [become] a secondary language for butchness, powerful and confident Kristen Arnett, New York Times

[A] subtle, scintillating novel TLS

Brilliant and sexy It should be on everyones summer reading list iNews

A highly charged tale of desire and obsession Marie Claire

A tense, often funny tale of lust and longing A moving yet non-maudlin reflection on the complexity of gender Literary Review

Embraces and then toys with our expectation of the lesbian romance Spare and direct London Review of Books

Bold, uncompromising Remarkable Daily Express

'So seductively and intelligently observed that its pulse continues long after the final page Sarah Winman, author of Still Life

A languorous slow-burn and a moving reflection on queerness and what it is to be and be seen Julia Armfield, author of Our Wives Under the Sea

Moody, generous and brilliant Jessie Burton, author of The House of Fortune

Tense, taut and exhilarating Monica Heisey, author of Really Good, Actually

Crisp and beautiful Amy Key, author of Arrangements in Blue

Hot! Joanna Walsh, author of Vertigo

Astonishing Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

Beautifully crafted and uncannily accomplished Rupert Thomson, author of Never Anyone but You

Taut with anticipation Lillian Fishman, author of Acts of Service

Author Bio

K Patrick is a writer based in Glasgow. Their poetry has appeared in Poetry Review and Five Dials, and was shortlisted for The White Review Poetry Prize in 2021, the same year that K was shortlisted for The White Review Story Prize. In 2020, they were runner-up in the Ivan Juritz Prize and the Laura Kinsella Fellowship. Mrs S is their debut novel.