Blank Canvas

'Superb ... Witty, assured, energisingly original' GUARDIAN 'Razor-edged and emotionally rich ... Exquisite' LUCY ROSE, AUTHOR OF THE LAMB 'A literary star in the making' MARIE CLAIRE * Introducing an outstanding new voice in literary fiction: a sensual, sharp, and utterly compelling campus novel about grief, reinvention, and the ripple effects of telling lies If I ever woke up with an ungodly dread - that I could change it all now, turn around, and confess - I ignored it. I had never been good, and there was no point in trying now. On a small liberal arts campus in upstate New York, Charlotte begins her final year with a lie. Her father died over the summer, she says. Heart attack. Very sudden. Charlotte had never been close with her classmates but as she repeats her tale, their expressions soften into kindness. And so she learns there are things worth lying for: attention, affection, and, as she embarks on a relationship with fellow student Katarina, even love. All she needs to do is keep control of the threads that hold her lie - and her life - together. But six thousand miles away, alone in the grey two-up-two-down Staffordshire terrace she grew up in, her father is very much alive, watching television and drinking beer. Charlotte has always kept difficult truths at arm's length, but his resolve to visit his distant daughter might just be the one thing she can't control. 'The kind of interior voice that ensnares you ... The art college campus novel I've always wanted.... Grace Murray is one of those writers who you can devote yourself to' CLAIRE KOHDA, AUTHOR OF WOMAN, EATING *GRACE MURRAY FEATURES ON THE SUNDAY TIMES YOUNG POWER LIST 2026***

Grace Murray was born in 2003 and grew up in Norwich. She has recently graduated from Edinburgh University, where she read English Literature and found time to write between her studies and two part-time jobs. Her short fiction has been published in The London Magazine. In writing Blank Canvas, Grace set out to explore themes of Catholic guilt and queer identity, clashing moral codes and lies, and the opportunity for reinvention presented by moving between countries and settings. Blank Canvas was written over the course of a year as part of WriteNow, Penguin Random House's flagship mentorship scheme for emerging talent. Grace Murray won one of nine places on the scheme on the exceptional strength of her writing, selected from a pool of over 1,300 applicants.