Rosewater

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What to expect

A deliciously gritty and strikingly bold debut novel about discovering love where it has always been.

Elsie is a sexy, funny, and fiercely independent woman living in South London. But, at just 28, she is also tired. Though she spends her days writing tender poetry in her journal, her nights are spent working long hours for minimum wage at a neighbourhood gay bar.

The difficulty of being estranged from her family, struggle of being continually rejected from jobs, and fear of never making money doing what she loves, is too great. But Elsie is determined to keep the faith, for a little longer at least. Things will surely turn around. They have to.

As she tries to breathe through the panic attacks, sleeping with her hot and spirited co-worker Bea isn't exactly straightforward and offers Elsie just another place to hide.

As Elsie tries to reconnect with her best friend Juliet, her fragile world spirals out of control. Can Elsie steady herself and not fall through the cracks?

"Wonderfully fresh, zesty and sexy"
BERNARDINE EVARISTO author of Girl, Woman, Other

"Frank, sexy and so tender. Little's pen shines"
BOLU BABALOLA author of Love in Colour
"A story that seeps into you the way warm sunshine does at the final edges of winter"
NICOLE DENNIS-BENN author of Here Comes the Sun
(P) 2023 Little Brown Book Group Limited for and on behalf of Dialogue Books

Critics Review

Rosewater is essential . . . I raced through it in 24 hours.
Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff, editor of Black Joy
I consumed it in breathless gulps.
Sareeta Domingo, author of If I Don't Have You
This is a modern Black British love story that will become a future classic.
Symeon Brown, author of Get Rich or Lie Trying
Rosewater is a confident debut, brimming with ideas and bursting with heart . . . I am in awe.
Nikesh Shukla, author of The Good Immigrant
Liv writes with ease, creating natural and effortless prose that is quietly powerful.
Travis Alabanza, author of None of the Above
A wonderfully fresh, zesty and sexy debut novelist who is putting black queer lives, loves and longings centre stage, where they belong.
Bernardine Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, Other
Rosewater is funny, witty, messy, and beautifully queer . . . a story that seeps into you the way warm sunshine does at the final edges of winter.
Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of Here Comes the Sun
Bold and beautiful . . . [a] bracing contemporary voice.
Mike Jackson, John Legend and Ty Stiklorius
Frank, sexy, and so tender. Little's pen shines.
Bolu Babalola, author of Love in Colour
Rosewater feels like a song for the dreamers who are trying to find their way. It is a wonderful, messy, heart-filled novel.
Jendella Benson, author of Hope and Glory
It's tender, soulful, and sexy, and once I started this book, I couldn't put it down.
Phoebe Robinson, author of You Can’t Touch My Hair
Sharply observed yet tender at the same time, Rosewater explores the meaning of home, exposing its fragility and its tenacity as Little's characters fight to find their place in the world.
Gwen E. Kirby, author of Shit Cassandra Saw
Rosewater is sensuous, urgent and pulsating with youth -- embracing all of its messiness, discovery and boundless capacity for love.
Xochitl Gonzalez, author of Olga Dies Dreaming
Rosewater is sexy, alive, and modern-a perfectly-formed romance . . . this book is a must-read and a captivating delight.
Jayne Allen, author of Black Girls Must Die Exhausted
A gritty, heartfelt, no holds barred look at life and love in present-day London.
Andrea Lee, author of Red Island House
An effervescent and irresistible new voice.
Coco Mellors, author of Cleopatra and Frankenstein
A thrilling book.
Fatimah Asghar, author of When We Were Sisters
Inspiring . . . bold and hotly anticipated debut.
Porter
A highly relevant look at millennial life in the city.
Independent
Full of energy, wit and excitement, this is a book to watch.
Stylist
Bold debut novel . . . free-spirited . . . amazing.
Cosmopolitan
An unapologetically bold and heartfelt love story with a timeless message about living your authentic self at its core.
Lizzie Damilola Blackburn, author of Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?
A beautifully rendered story about love's possibilities and its limits. I laughed, I cried, couldn't put it down.
Monica Heisey, author of Really Good, Actually
A paeon to a queer love affair that's sexy, complex and romantic. Effortlessly capturing our uncertain zeitgeist.
Evening Standard
This striking debut from will stay with me for a long time. Elsie is a wonderfully flawed protagonist you won't be able to resist rooting for. Over the course of the reading experience, I felt everything from arousal and laughter to panic-stricken devastation. You'll fall in love with Rosewater.
Diva
An exciting new voice.
iNews
A gorgeous, multi-layered love story; the kind you stay up late to read.
Well Read with Anna Bonet
intensely moving . . . Rosewater is a beautiful ode to queer love and friendship
Observer
Funny, sexy and full of the kind of sensual moments that your hairs stand on end, Rosewater is a brilliantly written tale of millennial life and modern love.
Stylist, Book of the Month
The book we've all been waiting for . . . Funny, fierce and relatable.
Evening Standard, ES Magazine
A blazing debut that catapults Little onto the literary scene, this is the sapphic love story we have been waiting for . . . Little's exploration of mental health, independence, rebuilding one's confidence, resilience in hard times, family and found family were just a few themes that shone. The prose flows beautifully, keeping the reader's attention from start to finish, and Elsie's poetry (written by the amazing Kai-Isaiah Jamal) is so truthfully written and raw that it brings Elsie's character alive more than you would think possible.
NB magazine
Powerfully visceral and exposing.
The Guardian
It is at once funny and moving, a snapshot of life in London at the specific time it was written, and a beautiful homage to black queer creativity.
Bad Form
Rosewater is going to be the debut of the year. Lyrical, bold and pulsing with energy, you will not be able to put this one down.
Glamour
A queer love story that isn't just hot and real but heart-breaking and tender too . . . It's the kind of effect debut novelists dream of.
Notion
The moving, powerfully executed tale of Elsie . . . It has a lot to say about creating art in a capitalist society, about family and what homecoming can come to mean, if we fully embrace it.
Service95
Rosewater vividly evokes the pain - and the humour - of being young and living through this era. It's timely, enlightening and full of promise. Little is a talent
Sunday Times
The ultimate queer love story
Homo Sapiens podcast
A poignant love song to friendship and chosen family
Grazia
It has all the right ingredients for a modern classic: it's tender, raw, refreshing and comforting all at the same time.
Dazed Magazine
Little lays bare complex truths of the heart, the nature of love and desire, and the power of staying true and strong. Elsie's story will have readers rooting for her along every step of her passionate path.
LoveReading

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