What It's Like in Words: A Novel [Paperback]

A dark, intense, and compelling story of what happens when a young woman falls in love with the wrong kind of man.

Enola is approaching 30 and everything feels likea lot. The boxes arent ticked and she feels adrift in a way she thought she would have beaten by now. She wants to be a writer but cant finish a first draft; she romanticizes her childhood but wont speak to her mother; she has never been in a serious relationship but yearns to be one half of a couple that DIYs together on weekends.

Enter: enigmatic writer. Enola falls in love and starts to dream about their perfect future: the wedding, the book deals, the house in Stoke Newington. But the reality is far from perfect. Hes distant. But shes a Cool Girl, she doesnt need to hear from him every day. He hangs out with his ex. But shes a Cool Girl, shes not insecure. Is she? He has dark moods. But hes a creative, thats part of his process. Her best friend begs her to end it, but Enola cant. Shes a Cool Girl.

She might feel like shes going crazy at times, but she wants him. She needs him. She would die without him . . . Thats what love is, isnt it? Over the next twenty-four hours (and two years), everything that Enola thinks she knows is about to unravel, and she has to think again about how she sees love, family, friendship, andmost importantlyherself.

With notes ofFleabagandI May Destroy Youbut with the sparseness and emotional accuracy of writers like Lily King,What Its Like in Wordsis a close examination of what it means to experience the intense emotional uncertainty of first love.

Eliza Mossis the pseudonym for Sarah Moss, a London-based actor, and singer. She double majored at the University of Manchester, gaining a first class degree in English literature, and studied method acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York. In 2021 she completed the Curtis Brown Creative three-month novel-writlã;