BITTER
SWEET
The debut novel publishing July 2025
'I inhaled this novel. Utterly believable, immersive and heartfelt. I loved it'
JENNIE GODFREY
'Hattie's writing on early-20s friendships and their enmeshed intensity, was so convincing. I enjoyed it so much'
MARIAN KEYES
'Thrilling, compulsive and utterly addictive'
KIRSTY CAPES
'Unsettling, unflinching... [it] reminds us how dangerous love can be'
ARAMINTA HALL
'Sharp, compelling, and thought provoking. The perfect book club pick for 2025'
LOUISE O'NEILL
‘Hattie Williams’ writing is as intoxicating as the relationship she portrays. Bitter Sweet is such a vividly drawn depiction of a power imbalance that so many women have experienced at some point in their lives. It’s a book that draws you in and keeps you obsessively within its pages right to the end.’
KATE WESTON
‘Bitter Sweet is a brilliantly assured debut from an exciting new voice in fiction, which deftly charts the pains of young love in a way that is both fresh and yet infinitely relatable. I loved it.’
SJ WATSON
'In my life, there are things that have happened to me, and things that I have done, that have proven to be moments that have a clear before and an after. One of those moments, perhaps in some ways the biggest, was the day that I met Richard Aveling for the first time.'
Charlie is twenty-three, single and the new publicity assistant at the independent London publishing house Winden & Shane. Richard Aveling is fifty-six, married and the author that has defined his generation.
Charlie has long idolised the charming, illustrious writer, who also represents a link to her late mother, who loved his work. But as they embark on an illicit and all-consuming affair, Charlie is forced to hide the relationship from everyone she cares about.
And when the success of Richard's latest book launches him to a new level of fame where all anonymity is lost, she realises she might just be in too deep...
A thought-provoking exploration of a relationship founded in power, control and silence, Bitter Sweet is perfect for book clubs and will appeal to fans of Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason and Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors.
Bitter Sweet will be published on July 3rd 2025, with other languages to follow.
