Hourglass: Longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2022

A short, exquisite novel about love, loss and making sense of the world - as heartbreakingly moving as it is outrageous and funny

'A universal love story' Guardian

'Beautiful, funny, profound ... read it in one glowing session' New Statesman

'A book for anyone who ever has been or ever will be heartbroken. So that's everyone.' Hollie McNish

Love builds up little by little and that's why it makes people reach for words like root and sediment and other words to do with rocks and trees. But what about the dismantling? Does it happen that way too? Because it feels like it is happening much, much faster. And I am reaching for words like landslide and like wave and like storm ...

Exquisitely crafted, wildly imaginative and as darkly funny as it is moving, Hourglass is a revolutionary love story. It turns time upside down, combs the intimate wreckage of heartbreak for something universal, and asks what it means to lose what you love.