What It's Like in Words
A Novel
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
An intoxicating debut that asks: how much should you have to sacrifice in the name of love?
Enola is almost thirty and she’s not quite where she thought she’d be. She wants to be a writer but can’t finish a first draft; she romanticizes her childhood while being estranged from her family; and she yearns to be someone’s other half in order to feel whole.
When an enigmatic, successful writer infiltrates her writing group, Enola falls hopelessly in love, dreaming about their perfect future. But the chasm between fantasy and reality couldn’t be wider. He’s distant, moody, and spends more time with his ex than with her. She’s desperate to play it cool, and despite all the red flags, she wants him, she needs him, she can’t live without him. That’s love, isn’t it?
Two tumultuous years culminate in an explosive twenty-four hours where everything Enola thinks she knows about love will unravel, forcing her to reimagine her vision of the future and—most importantly—herself. With the emotional acuity of Fleabag and I May Destroy You, What It’s Like in Words closely examines the ferocity of toxic love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Moss's astute debut chronicles a London woman's toxic relationship with an older man. Enola, 27, is a struggling writer working as a barista with her best friend, Ruth. She's still processing her father's death when she was a young girl and her decision to cut off communication with her mother. She meets the "mega-confident" B at a pub, where he props his feet up on the table next to her glass of wine. From then on, "the desire to please him bloomed like an addiction," and he manipulates her with subtle insults and criticisms of her writing. Four months into the relationship and despite Ruth's concerns, Enola takes a trip with B to Kenya, where she spent part of her childhood and where her father died. As memories of her dad resurface, Enola's grief becomes too much for B and he breaks up with her, but it's far from the end of their story. Over the next year and a half, Enola is constantly drawn back to B. Eventually, she must decide if she will move on from him and her troubled familial past or stay under his sway. While the novel's structure is needlessly confusing, hopscotching across different periods of the relationship, Moss keenly portrays how Enola's sense of self-worth becomes tied to B's perception of her. It's an arresting portrait of manipulation.
