Leilani, R: Luster

'Luster is entirely remarkable, and the most delicious novel I've read.' Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie

Edie is just trying to survive. She's messing up in her dead-end admin job in her all-white office, is sleeping with all the wrong men, and has failed at the only thing that meant anything to her, painting. No one seems to care that she doesn't really know what she's doing with her life beyond looking for her next hook-up.

Then she meets Eric, a white middle-aged archivist with a suburban family, including a wife who has sort-of-agreed to an open marriage and an adopted black daughter who doesn't have a single person in her life who can show her how to do her hair. As if navigating the constantly shifting landscape of sexual and racial politics as a young black woman isn't already hard enough, with nowhere else left to go, Edie finds herself falling headfirst into Eric's home and family.

Razor-sharp, provocatively page-turning and yet full of heart, in Luster Raven Leilani delivers an irresistible debut about what it means to be young today.

'A hilariously moving debut from a stunning new voice . . . I couldn't put this one down.' Brit Bennett, author of The Vanishing Half
'Darkly funny with wicked insight . . . This keenly observed, dynamic debut is so cutting, it almost stings.' Elle