Review: Rosewater by Liv Little
Shortlisted for the 2024 Nota Bene Prize, Rosewater is a daring, unputdownable debut, filled with unforgettable characters and subtle social commentary, about a free-spirited young South Londoner is a stunning meditation on the ways in which friendship can deepen into romantic love.
Elsie is a sexy, funny, and fiercely independent woman in South London. But, at just 28, she is also tired. Though she spends her days writing tender poetry in her journal, her nights are spent working long hours for minimum wage at a neighbourhood gay bar.
The difficulty of being estranged from her family, struggle of being continually rejected from jobs, and fear of never making money doing what she loves, is too great. But Elsie is determined to keep the faith, for a little longer at least. Things will surely turn around. They have to.
As she tries to breathe through the panic attacks, sleeping with her hot and spirited co-worker Bea isn't exactly straightforward and offers Elsie just another place to hide.
As Elsie tries to reconnect with her best friend Juliet, her fragile world spirals out of control. Can Elsie steady herself and not fall through the cracks?
REVIEWED BY GABRIELA TOWNES
A blazing debut that catapults Little onto the literary scene, this is the sapphic love story we have been waiting for. We’ve all been in reading slumps before, and it felt as if Little grabbed my hand and quite literally yanked me out of it, straight into Elsie’s world.
Rosewater is a black love story set in London; our protagonist is a struggling poet working at a gay bar facing challenging times when her best friend steps in to offer support. With an array of characters that you will find yourself loving tenderly as they circle around Elsie, providing her with the love, support, and stability she needs. This is a debut rich with love.
Little’s exploration of mental health, independence, rebuilding one’s confidence, resilience in hard times, family and found family were just a few themes that shone. The prose flows beautifully, keeping the reader’s attention from start to finish, and Elsie’s poetry (written by the amazing Kai-Isaiah Jamal) is so truthfully written and raw that it brings Elsie’s character alive more than you would think possible.
An ode to love, sex, sexuality, desire, friendship, South-East London and so much more – Rosewater is a debut you do not want to miss.