Briefly, A Delicious Life

Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize 'Wildly seductive' – Sarah Waters 'Exquisite' – New York Times 'Deeply enjoyable' – Daily Telegraph Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stevens is a historical otherworldly story about breaking convention, and about love – secret, forbidden, unrequited. Blanca has been dead for a few centuries when she falls in love – instantly and devotedly – with celebrated novelist George Sand. George is unlike anyone Blanca has encountered in hundreds of years of haunting: a woman dressed in men’s clothes, a ferocious writer, a passionate lover of men and women alike and an ambivalent mother. It is 1838, and George has come to the island of Mallorca with her ailing lover, Frédéric Chopin. As the weather and the locals turn against this strange couple, can the love of a teenage ghost keep them from disaster? 'Dazzling' – Melissa Broder, author of The Pisces and Milk Fed ‘A luscious, multi-sensory bewitchment of a book’ – Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies ‘A shining work of art’ – Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory 'Electrifyingly beautiful, exhilaratingly clever . . . sensual, original, intelligent and brimming with love' – Imogen Hermes Gowar, author of The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock ‘Hugely accomplished’ – The Guardian ‘A playful, otherworldly debut’ – Stylist

Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize 'Wildly seductive' – Sarah Waters 'Exquisite' – New York Times 'Deeply enjoyable' – Daily Telegraph Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stevens is a historical otherworldly story about breaking convention, and about love – secret, forbidden, unrequited. Blanca has been dead for a few centuries when she falls in love – instantly and devotedly – with celebrated novelist George Sand. George is unlike anyone Blanca has encountered in hundreds of years of haunting: a woman dressed in men’s clothes, a ferocious writer, a passionate lover of men and women alike and an ambivalent mother. It is 1838, and George has come to the island of Mallorca with her ailing lover, Frédéric Chopin. As the weather and the locals turn against this strange couple, can the love of a teenage ghost keep them from disaster? 'Dazzling' – Melissa Broder, author of The Pisces and Milk Fed ‘A luscious, multi-sensory bewitchment of a book’ – Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies ‘A shining work of art’ – Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory 'Electrifyingly beautiful, exhilaratingly clever . . . sensual, original, intelligent and brimming with love' – Imogen Hermes Gowar, author of The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock ‘Hugely accomplished’ – The Guardian ‘A playful, otherworldly debut’ – Stylist

*A Cosmopolitan Best Book of Summer * One of BuzzFeed 's Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books* An "exquisite...too lovely to bear" ( The New York Times Book Review ) debut novel from an award-winning writer: a playful and daring tale about a teenage ghost who falls in love with the writer George Sand. In 1473, fourteen-year-old Blanca dies in a hilltop monastery in Mallorca. Nearly four hundred years later, when George Sand, her two children, and her lover Frederic Chopin arrive in the village, Blanca is still there: a spirited, funny, righteous ghost, she's been hanging around the monastery since her accidental death, spying on the monks and the townspeople and keeping track of her descendants. Blanca is enchanted the moment she sees George, and the magical novel unfolds as a story of deeply felt, unrequited longing--a teenage ghost pining for a woman who can't see her and doesn't know she exists. As George and Chopin, who wear their unconventionality, in George's case, literally on their sleeves, find themselves in deepening trouble with the provincial, 19th-century villagers, Blanca watches helplessly and reflects on the circumstances of her own death (which involved an ill-advised love affair with a monk-in-training). Charming, original, and emotionally moving, this "deeply wild debut follows the unconventional love triangle" ( Cosmopolitan ) between George, Chopin, and Blanca--a gorgeous and surprising exploration of artistry, desire, and life after death.

*A Cosmopolitan Best Book of Summer * One of BuzzFeed 's Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books* An "exquisite...too lovely to bear" ( The New York Times Book Review ) debut novel from an award-winning writer: a playful and daring tale about a teenage ghost who falls in love with the writer George Sand. In 1473, fourteen-year-old Blanca dies in a hilltop monastery in Mallorca. Nearly four hundred years later, when George Sand, her two children, and her lover Frederic Chopin arrive in the village, Blanca is still there: a spirited, funny, righteous ghost, she's been hanging around the monastery since her accidental death, spying on the monks and the townspeople and keeping track of her descendants. Blanca is enchanted the moment she sees George, and the magical novel unfolds as a story of deeply felt, unrequited longing--a teenage ghost pining for a woman who can't see her and doesn't know she exists. As George and Chopin, who wear their unconventionality, in George's case, literally on their sleeves, find themselves in deepening trouble with the provincial, 19th-century villagers, Blanca watches helplessly and reflects on the circumstances of her own death (which involved an ill-advised love affair with a monk-in-training). Charming, original, and emotionally moving, this "deeply wild debut follows the unconventional love triangle" ( Cosmopolitan ) between George, Chopin, and Blanca--a gorgeous and surprising exploration of artistry, desire, and life after death.