Two Lovers

'Ralf Webb's debut novel is a finely wrought interrogation of bisexuality, social class, art-making and obsession -- I read it compulsively' JESSICA ANDREWS, author of Milk Teeth Bounced back to his coastal hometown after university, a young man feels trapped by his narrow horizon and his brother's mental health crisis. Digging into his overdraft, he books a cheap room in Paris and escapes. There, while working shifts at a bookshop, he meets and rapidly falls for Tina, a woman nearly a decade older than him. He throws himself into her beautiful life and they spend the heat of summer in French bars, parks and garrets, before trailing their way down to Valencia. But this romantic fantasy cannot last and months later he finds himself back home again. Shell shocked and struggling, he eventually thinks of Lyle, an ex of Tina's who is now in London. Once again, he steps into a new city and a new kind of love that, while imperfect, offers him a sense of possibility. Tender and sensual, Two Lovers is a story of the way that different relationships can crack us open and reshape us - how young love can be transformative, even if it isn't forever. PRAISE FOR RALF WEBB: 'An important voice in British poetry' Eley Williams, author of The Liar's Dictionary 'Webb's writing is of a quality rarely seen' Diarmuid Hester, author of Nothing Ever Just Disappears 'True poet-scholars, whose creative and critical concerns intimately connect, are rare indeed: Webb is slowly and carefully establishing an interesting niche for himself among rather distinguished company. He's a writer who can give expression to crisis and confusion, but who can also offer careful analysis and critique of the causes and consequences of our human pain' Telegraph He's a writer who can give expression to crisis and confusion, but who can also offer careful analysis and critique of the causes and consequences of our human pain' Telegraph