Winner of Lambda Literary's 2024 Randall Kenan Prize for Black LGBTQ Fiction
A
TODAY
and
LGBTQ Reads
Most Anticipated Book of 2023 • A Goodreads Buzziest Debut Novel of the New Year • An
Electric Lit
Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Book of Spring 2023 • A
Bustle
Most Anticipated Book of Spring & Summer 2023 • A
Nylon
April 2023 Must-Read Book • An
Ebony
Required Reading Pick for April
For fans of Bolu Babalola and Tia Williams comes a “tender, soulful, and sexy” (Phoebe Robinson) debut novel about finding love in an unexpected place.
Elsie is a sexy, funny, and fiercely independent woman in south London. But several things in her life have gone terribly wrong. She’s estranged from her family; is failing to make it as a poet; and has just been evicted from her social housing. As fierce and independent as she is, even Elsie must admit that being a carefree 28-year-old is proving difficult—and that she’s running out of options.
Juliet, her best friend since childhood, has always been Elsie’s lifeline. So even though they haven’t spoken in months, Elsie is soon snuggled up on Juliet’s couch, back at home among the mismatched cushions and knit blankets.
Between their reruns of
Drag Race
and nights smoking on the balcony, something surprising begins to glimmer in Elsie’s heart. And as the days turn into weeks and then months, this feeling quickly becomes too fierce to ignore. Will Elsie be brave enough to open herself up to love?
Featuring the poetry of Kai-Isaiah Jamal,
Rosewater
is a deliciously steamy queer romance from a bold new voice. An electric and captivating debut, Elsie’s story teaches us that sometimes home is not always where we are, but who we are with . . .
"
Simmering
." —
New York Times
“
Sensuous
.” —
As buzzy as it gets
no kill
magazine
Fresh, zesty, and sexy
.” —Bernardine Evaristo
Sensuous, urgent, and pulsating with youth
.” —Xochitl Gonzalez
I laughed, I cried, couldn't put it down
.” —Monica Heisey