SYNOPSIS: INSIGHT

AT a birthday party in the basement of a south London pub, a young man meets a young woman. “You’re both artists,” says a mutual friend. “She’s a very talented dancer …he’s a photographer.” The man is there to take pictures.

When his work is complete, he looks around for her and soon realises she’s gone; however, he knows they will meet again.

Caleb Azumah Nelson’s Costa Prize-winning debut novel charts the turbulent course of a love affair between two complicated and creative individuals.

“You joked as a photographer that you spent time chasing light,” the unnamed narrator reflects, “but you should’ve also said you bent darkness as well.”

The author brings a fierce emotional intensity to his elegant love story. It unfolds amid a richly detailed depiction of the light and darkness of living and loving in London.

– Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson is published by Viking, 160pp