INFO BAR
‘The kind of interior voice that ensnares you . . . Grace Murray is one of those writers who you can devote yourself to. I’m along for the ride of her whole career’ CLAIRE KOHDA, author of Woman, Eating ‘Perceptive, witty and subversive. Murray writes with such clarity and boldness . . . A refreshing, nuanced take on the campus novel’ ELA LEE, author of Jaded
GRACE MURRAY was born in 2003 and grew up in Norwich. She has recently graduated from the University of Edinburgh, where she read English literature and found time to write between her studies and two part-time jobs.
Blank Canvas was written over the course of a year as part of WriteNow, Penguin Random House’s flagship mentorship scheme for emerging talent. Grace Murray won one of nine places on the scheme on the exceptional strength of her writing, selected from a pool of over 1,300 applicants.
‘A campus novel painted with the most startling, profound hues. A portrait of queer love, loneliness and dark lies . . . An absolute triumph’ RUPERT DASTUR, author of Cloudless ‘I loved this brilliant debut. Astute and absorbing, comic and acerbic . . . I was enthralled’ EMMA VAN STRAATEN, author of This Immaculate Body ‘Truly impressive. One of the best debuts I’ve read this year . . . Murray’s writing moves with the ease of a writer unencumbered’ JODIE MATTHEWS, author of Meet Me at the Surface ‘Slick with spite, desire and intrigue, this is an exceptional debut. Audacious and addictive . . . You’ll race through it, breath held, skin prickling’ CELIA SILVANI, author of Baby Teeth
I S B N 978-0-241-76730-6
90000 PENGUIN Fiction
9
9780241767306_BlankCanvas_TPB.indd All Pages
BLANK CANVAS ‘Fantastically engaging . . . The art college campus novel I’ve always wanted’ CLAIRE KOHDA
780241 767306
Cover photograph © Getty Images
Prod Controller
I had never been particularly honest.
Format
Other people were good and kind – the rest were predestined for mediocrity, or cruelty. It wasn’t my fault that I fell, through the random act of my birth, into the second category. If I ever woke up with an ungodly dread – that I could change it all now, turn around, and confess – I ignored it. I had never been good, and there was no point in trying now. On a small liberal arts campus in upstate New York, Charlotte begins her final year with a lie. Her father died over the summer, she says. Heart attack. Very sudden.
‘An outstanding debut from an author to watch’ HEATHER DARWENT, author of The Things We Do to Our Friends
GRACE MURRAY
In writing Blank Canvas, Grace set out to explore themes of Catholic guilt and queer identity, clashing moral codes and lies, and the opportunity for reinvention presented by moving between countries and settings.
‘A study in self-sabotage and yearning that crackles until it erupts . . . Acidic, funny and painfully astute’ SETH INSUA, author of Human, Animal
BLANK CANVAS
‘Razor-edged and emotionally rich . . . Navigates the desperation of loneliness and selfhood with exquisite depth, rendering even the quietest moments astonishing and haunting’ LUCY ROSE, author of The Lamb
Designer
Charlotte had never been close with her classmates but as she repeats her tale, their expressions soften into kindness. And so she learns there are things worth lying for: attention, affection and, as she embarks on a relationship with fellow student Katarina, even love. All she needs to do is keep control of the threads that hold her lie – and her life – together.
‘Exquisite’ LUCY ROSE ‘The sharpest, meanest of prose in the best possible way’ HEATHER DARWENT
GRACE
MURRAY
But six thousand miles away, alone in the grey two-up-two-down Staffordshire terrace she grew up in, her father is very much alive, watching television and drinking beer. Charlotte has always kept difficult truths at arm’s length, but his resolve to visit his distant daughter might just be the one thing she can’t control.
Size Spine Width
- JST -CF DEMY TPB 135 x 216 mm 21 mm
DEADLINES
Files To Print - 06/11 Pub Month - 01/26
M AT E R I A L S
Paper Finish Special Colours
- SOFT TOUCH - NO
F I N I S H P L AT E S Files included in folder: CMYK, deboss
£00.00
APPROVED COVER ON B3 09/10/2025 10:09