Deep Down: the 'intimate, emotional and witty' 2023 debut you don't want to miss

Description

DEEP DOWN is a moving, witty, unexpected novel of family secrets, perfect for fans of Naoise Dolan, Katherine Heiny and Megan Nolan Billie and Tom have just found out their father has died. Dislocated from each other and unable to talk about the trauma in their family's past, Billie decides the best thing to do is get on a plane to her brother in Paris. Maybe there they can find a way to heal? As their story veers between present bereavement and flashbacks to growing up, we see the siblings search for common ground and attempt to repair old wounds. Following the tracks of their grief, Billie and Tom find themselves - unexpectedly - lost in the catacombs of Paris, confronting both each other and their own demons. Funny, moving and unexpected, DEEP DOWN is a novel from a huge new talent who readers are going to love.

Imogen West-Knights is a writer and journalist based in London. She writes most regularly for the Guardian, the Financial Times, the New York Times and Slate. She was shortlisted for the Portobello Prize 2017 and shortlisted for the FT/Bodley Head Essay Prize 2018. She also writes video games. Deep Down is her first novel.

DEEP DOWN is a beautifully constructed and unnervingly assured debut which deeply moved and impressed me. Imogen West Knights reveals family silence and repression in a way which feels almost agonisingly true to life. There are no histrionics here, nor any glib resolutions, but a superbly observed exploration of intimacy and its failings. Not to be missed -- Megan Nolan I am in awe of this genius debut novel. A brilliant page-turner - I also wanted to pause every few paragraphs and read aloud as a treat for whoever happened to be sitting next to me. West-Knights is a masterful, hilarious and humane story-teller. -- Olivia Sudjic As a longtime fan of Imogen West-Knight's writing, I was thrilled to discover her fiction is just as charming: a sharp and clear-eyed portrait of familial love and the ways it makes us mad -- Monica Heisey, author of REALLY GOOD, ACTUALLY A dry comedy that's as astute as her reported writing - and funny too * Vogue * This perceptive account of the undercurrents that shape our family relationships and the ways in which they play out in adulthood had me gripped. A tender, moving novel with heart, by a new talent in fiction -- Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett Deep Down is a nuanced and sensitive study of family and abuse, of the unbridgeable gulfs in communication that render us inert and helpless, of the truths we can't bear to confront, and the loyalties we can't bear to betray -- Susannah Dickey A sensitive look at grief, families, ambition, anger and the complexity of loving and hating someone all at once. * Bookseller * An intimate, emotional and witty take on grief and complicated relationships -- Justin Myers Deep Down examines that which we would rather suppress - grief, shame, hurt - with unflinching verve while treading a careful line between finding the absurd in the humane, and the humane in the absurd. West-Knights has written a book with real heart -- Jo Hamya Imogen handles complicated family dynamics and the unspoken things that come between us with remarkable sensitivity and insight, as well as perfect dark humour that is so much a part of navigating grief. I honestly can't believe this is a debut -- Emma Hughes