Bitter Melon

The sensational debut novel by Liv Little asks, what happens when you fall through the cracks?

Elsie is out of options.

She's exhausted from being pushed in and out of social housing, she's deflated by debt and she's disturbed by the dark reality of having bailiffs show up at her door. With nowhere to go, there's only one person left to turn to: her best friend, Juliet.

She finds friendship and safety in Juliet's flat, but when Elsie loses her bar job and all creative inspiration for her poetry dries up, she hits rock bottom.

As she tries to breathe through the panic attacks, sleeping with the hot and spirited Bea isn't exactly straightforward and offers Elsie just another place to hide. Whilst trying to turn her poetry into a career, her fragile world spirals out of control and Elsie reaches for her rocky foundations to try and steady herself on her path and not fall through the cracks.

But sometimes what you've been searching for has been there all along. Can Elsie see it in time?

Written by the founder of gal-dem and featuring incredible poetry from Kai Isaiah Jamal, Rosewater is a remarkable, modern, multi-generational love story for readers of Queenie, Normal People and Rainbow Milk who will be enraptured by Liv's original narrative and captivatingly distinctive voice.