Mrs. S
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4.0 • 9 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
Oprah Daily・Electric Literature・Gay Times・NBC Out
A JULY 2023 INDIE NEXT PICK
A sublime and sensual debut novel exploring the nature of queer love and attraction, the transformative power of desire, and the dissonance between self and place, by White Review Fiction Prize shortlisted writer K Patrick
In an elite English boarding school where the girls kiss the marble statue of the famous dead author who used to walk the halls, a butch antipodean outsider arrives to take up the antiquated role of “matron.” Within this landscape of immense privilege, where difference is met with hostility, the matron finds herself unsure of her role, her accent and her body.
That is until she meets Mrs. S, the headmaster’s wife, a woman who is her polar opposite—an assured, authoritative paragon of femininity. Over the course of a long, restless summer, their unspoken yearning blooms into an illicit affair of electric intensity. But, as the summer fades, a choice must be made.
Seductive, stylish, and disarmingly wry, K Patrick’s bold and revelatory debut smolders with the heat of summer as it explores the queer experience and the force of forbidden love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An Australian immigrant navigates an English boarding school in Patrick's revelatory debut. The narrator is there to serve as "the Matron," the only name given to her in the novel. Between classes, she steals glances at Mrs. S, the headmaster's ravishing wife and a model of assured elegance. In the aftermath of a fight between a student and a visitor, members of the administration attempt damage control, providing an opportunity for the Matron and Mrs. S to spend more time together. Over the course of their work, they embark on a secret and torrid love affair despite their class differences. "Such things," the narrator thinks, "the heart cannot help but translate." As the school deals with a potential scandal involving underage drinking, the narrator's season of bliss is imperiled by Mrs. S's need to keep up appearances, prompting the narrator to vow, "I will become whatever she wants." Patrick makes palpable the compromises required by secret love, and though the romance is aching and well crafted, what emerges above all is a fascinating character portrait, that of a woman obscure to the world but radiant inside. Patrick wrings the exotic world of privilege for all that it's worth.
Customer Reviews
Where has this been all my life?
Phenomenal