What It's Like in Words
A Novel
by Eliza Moss
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Pub Date Dec 03 2024 | Archive Date Jan 03 2025
Henry Holt & Company | Henry Holt and Co.
Description
An intoxicating debut that asks: how much should you have to sacrifice in the name of love?
Enola is approaching 30 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 but won’t speak to her mother; and she yearns to be someone’s other half in order to feel whole.
Enter: an enigmatic writer who infiltrates her writing group. Enola falls hopelessly in love and dreams about their perfect future. But the chasm between fantasy and reality couldn’t be wider. He’s distant, plagued by dark moods, and spends more time with his ex than with her. But she’s desperate to be a Cool Girl. Despite the red flags, she can’t break up with him. She wants him, she needs him, she would die without him. . . . That’s what love is, isn’t it?
Two turbulent years culminate in an explosive twenty-four hours during which Enola is forced to reevaluate her understanding of love, family, friendship, and—most importantly—herself. With notes of Fleabag and I May Destroy You, and the emotional acuity of Lily King, What It’s Like in Words is a close examination of the ferocity of toxic love.
Advance Praise
"Eliza Moss masterfully renders how it feels to be ruled by grief and toxic obsession, and what it takes to break out of a prison of your own making. Devastating and tender, What It’s Like in Words is a love letter to friendship, art-making, and the messiest parts of ourselves."—Ruth Madievsky, national bestselling author of All-Night Pharmacy
"With echoes of Sally Rooney and Lily King, Eliza Moss is a fresh new voice who exquisitely captures the quirks of what it means to be imperfectly human and beautifully fragile. This book reads like poetry."—Neely Tubati Alexander, author of Love Buzz and In a Not-So-Perfect World
"I devoured What It's Like in Words with breathless admiration for Eliza Moss's raw, propulsive story of toxic love and obsession... The writing—gorgeous, crystalline, tender... If you enjoyed Genevieve Wheeler's Adelaide, Carola Lovering's Tell Me Lies, and the work of writers Dolly Alderton and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, you'll tear through this dark and addictive debut about a woman learning, finally, to value herself."—Caitlin Barasch, author of A Novel Obsession
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781250355058 |
| PRICE | $28.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 304 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Elisa A, Book Trade Professional
Such a poignant and honest story about those toxic situationships you find yourself tangled in when you're still young, but not quite as young as you used to be. Characters were well-drawn --- the romantic interest is appropriately priggish. While Enola's decisions were sometimes frustrating, they were also relatable. I loved the way Moss wove her back story throughout the book, and the depiction of her slow unraveling felt believable. Recalled Genevieve Wheeler's Adelaide, but a bit less whimsical.
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