Wet Paint
- Author Chloë Ashby
- Narrator Jasmine Blackborow
- Publisher Orion
- Run Time 9 hours and 47 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Contemporary lifestyle fiction, Coping with mental health issues, Coping with suicide, Family and health, Modern and contemporary fiction, Narrative theme: Love and relationships, Trauma and shock.
Titles Purchased
- 1-5
- 6-10
- 11-15
- 16-20
- Over 20
Price p/Title
- £7.99
- £6.99
- £5.99
- £4.99
- £3.99
Listen to a sample
What to expect
Searingly incisive, darkly funny and achingly poignant, Wet Paint is a novel about attempting to navigate the world as a twenty-something woman, exploring the highs and lows of friendship, love and loss.
Since the death of her best friend Grace, twenty-six-year-old Eve has learned to keep everything and everyone at arm's length. Safe in her detachment, she scrapes along waiting tables and cleaning her shared flat in exchange for cheap rent, finding solace in her small routines.
But when a chance encounter at work brings her past thundering into her present, Eve becomes consumed by painful memories of Grace. And soon her precariously maintained life begins to unravel: she loses her job, gets thrown out of her flat, and risks pushing away the one decent man who cares about her.
Taking up life-modelling to pay the bills, Eve lays bare her body but keeps hidden the mounting chaos inside her head. When her self-destructive urges spiral out of control, she's forced to confront the traumatic event that changed the course of her life, and to finally face her grief and guilt.
Perfect for fans of Conversations with Friends, Luster and My Year of Rest and Relaxation.
Critics Review
-
A blistering story of one girl’s attempts to outmanoeuvre past trauma, loss and rejection only to find her life descending into chaos
STYLIST -
What marks Ashby out as a distinctive voice is the warmth and compassion with which she depicts her characters and their milieu.
OBSERVER -
In this poised, heartfelt debut, Ashby paints a raw, richly-detailed portrait of untethered youth, friendship and suppressed grief.
Olivia Sudjic, author of Asylum Road -
A skilful, absorbing novel that is so much about seeing and being seen.
THE SPECTATOR -
With a careful, subtle, and compassionate description of the ways in which a life may be shaped by loss, Ashby creates a realistic and elegant portrait of a young woman beginning to recover herself from bereavement.
IRISH TIMES -
This isn’t a book you read, but a book you step into. Chloe Ashby has created a mesmerising and energetic world of grief, art and self discovery. I loved Eve and spending time with her on every page.
Emma Gannon, author of Olive
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