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An Observer Best Debut of the Year
A Granta Best Young British Novelist
A powerful, sensual novel of the forbidden love between a young woman and the headmaster’s wife, unfolding across a single heatwave summer.
In an elite English boarding school where the girls kiss the marble statue of the famous dead author who used to walk the halls, a young Australian woman arrives to take up the antiquated role of ‘matron’. There she meets Mrs S, the headmaster’s wife, a woman who is her polar opposite: assured, sophisticated, a paragon of femininity.
Over the course of a long, restless heatwave, the matron finds herself irresistibly drawn ever closer into the older woman’s world with their unspoken desire blooming into an illicit affair of electric intensity. But, as the summer begins to fade, both know that a choice must finally be made.
Author: K Patrick
Paperback Published 13 November 2024 304 pages
‘Atmospheric and daring’ GUARDIAN
'Compulsively readable, subtle, beautiful, brilliant' OBSERVER
Read and recommended by Remi:
Set in a traditional boarding school, Mrs. S follows an unnamed Australian person who moves to England for work and becomes captivated by the headmaster’s wife, the enigmatic Mrs. S. Known to the students as “Miss”—a title that suits them as poorly as "Matron"—the protagonist is both distant and alluring. These two people, so different, are drawn into each other’s orbit, destined to either collide or completely merge
‘Miss’, uncertain and contained, is desperate for something they can’t have, embodying the urgency and all-encompassing nature of youth. The intensity of desire becomes an exercise in edging and horny yearning. The chemistry between the characters is thick and palpable, culminating in a steamy, tension-filled moment in the school’s church, where desire simmers beneath the surface in a sacred, confined space.
Mrs. S is a quiet, exquisite exploration of queer love, longing, and self-discovery. It balances intense yearning with inevitable frustration, crafting a rare story that feels both reserved and feverishly expansive.