Loveless
-
- $15.99
-
- $15.99
Publisher Description
WINNER OF THE YA BOOK PRIZE 2021
LONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI CHILDREN’S & YA BOOK PRIZE 2022
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
The fourth novel from the phenomenally talented Alice Oseman, author of Solitaire and the graphic novel series Heartstopper – now a major Netflix series.
It was all sinking in. I’d never had a crush on anyone. No boys, no girls, not a single person I had ever met. What did that mean?
Georgia has never been in love, never kissed anyone, never even had a crush – but as a fanfic-obsessed romantic she’s sure she’ll find her person one day.
As she starts university with her best friends, Pip and Jason, in a whole new town far from home, Georgia’s ready to find romance, and with her outgoing roommate on her side and a place in the Shakespeare Society, her ‘teenage dream’ is in sight.
But when her romance plan wreaks havoc amongst her friends, Georgia ends up in her own comedy of errors, and she starts to question why love seems so easy for other people but not for her. With new terms thrown at her – asexual, aromantic – Georgia is more uncertain about her feelings than ever.
Is she destined to remain loveless? Or has she been looking for the wrong thing all along?
This wise, warm and witty story of identity and self-acceptance sees Alice Oseman on towering form as Georgia and her friends discover that true love isn’t limited to romance.
‘A joyous, disarmingly honest book that seems to leap right inside the mind of a teenage girl’ Independent [now iNews]
‘Loveless is an ode to friendship and platonic soulmates; this cosy blanket of a novel understandably won the YA Book Prize 2021’ Irish Times
‘A joyful tale of self-discovery” The Bookseller
Reviews
Praise for SOLITAIRE:
“The Catcher in the Rye for the digital age” The Times
“The most honest and authentic account of modern teenage life that you’ll read this year… outstanding contemporary fiction with appeal to fans of John Green.” The Bookseller
‘A very authentic, teenage voice’ – Sunday Times
‘Solitaire is an extraordinary novel … [Oseman] has captured her characters’ rage, humour and insecurity with aplomb.’ The Financial Times
‘Oseman proves herself a clever, witty writer’ Publishers Weekly
About the author
Alice Oseman was born in 1994 in Kent, England. She completed a degree in English at Durham University in 2016 and is currently a full-time writer and illustrator. Alice can usually be found staring aimlessly at computer screens, questioning the meaninglessness of existence, or doing anything and everything to avoid getting an office job. Alice's first book, SOLITAIRE, was published when she was nineteen.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Combining the plotting of a college sex romp with a queer sensibility that foregrounds aro-ace identity, Oseman's frank, kindhearted novel follows Georgia Warr, a white British college freshman curious about finding romance of the sort she reads about in fan fiction. As Georgia and her friends—Colombian British Pip, who's gay, and Jason, who's white and straight—rehearse a medley of romantic Shakespearean scenes in their theater group, playing Juliet (and, indeed, any attempts at kissing) makes her "feel sort of nauseated." But Georgia's not gay, and dating Jason only leads to hurt (his) and confusion (hers). After a lively, candid conversation with her pansexual roommate Rooney, cued white, about wank fantasies, and a crash course in asexuality from college-assigned mentor, nonbinary Sunil, who identifies as homoromantic asexual, Georgia concludes that she is aro-ace: "How could I feel so sad about giving up these things I did not actually want?" she wonders. Gradually, Georgia accepts her identity, finds role models, and puts her energy into friendships—just in time for a rom-com-style denouement that affirms human connection in any form. Oseman maintains an energetic pace while offering realistic and wide-ranging takes on identity, from internalized phobia to true self-love. Ages 14–up.
