Monique Roffey has combined mythology and erotica to create a powerful and sexually liberated novella that is taking the publishing world by storm. Published today by Dodo Ink, THE TRYST is a ‘throbbing home-wrecker of a tale’ (according to DBC Pierre) and is receiving a rip-tide of media coverage whilst already being reprinted before its date of publication.
In a recent article in The Times, Monique Roffey discusses her journey to sexual discovery after the breakdown of a long-term relationship. Her experience serves as inspiration for THE TRYST which is a literary erotic novella about a married couple, Bill and Jane, whose relationship has grown stale. On the night of the summer solstice they visit a London pub, where they encounter Lila – a mysterious femme fatale. She entrances the couple with half-true, mixed up tales about her life. At closing time, Jane makes an impulsive decision to invite Lilah back to their home. But Jane has made a catastrophic error of judgment, for Lilah is a skilled and ruthless predator, the likes of which few encounter in a lifetime. Isolated and cursed, Jane and Bill are forced to fight for each other, and, in doing so, discover their covert desires.
As well as The Times, Monique has received extensive coverage in The Telegraph, The Sun and The Daily Mail, who have hailed THE TRYST for its honesty and Roffey for her ‘brave confessional’. A sex blog tour has also accompanied the publication of the book, from Eros the Trickster, The Little Death, Thom Collins, Ian D Smith to SSLY. Monique is also interviewed by The Advantages of Age, and featured by The Lonesome Reader as one of the exciting new books published in July.
Monique Roffey is an award-winning novelist. Her most recent novel HOUSE OF ASHES, (Scribner UK) received widespread praise and was shortlisted for the Costa and the BOCAS Prize. ARCHIPELAGO, winner of the OCM BOCAS prize for Caribbean Literature, was published by Scribner in the UK, Viking in the US, and five translation markets. Her second novel, THE WHITE WOMAN ON THE GREEN BICYCLE, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Encore Prize, among other accolades.
Dodo Ink is a newly established indie press dedicated to publishing daring and difficult fiction. Set up by novelist Sam Mills, book reviewer Thom Cuell and marketing expert Alex Spears, it launched its first list in summer 2016.
Praise for THE TRYST
‘Not a shade of grey within a mile of this book. ... A throbbing homewrecker of a tale, too late to call FIFTY SHADES OF RED.’ – DBC Pierre
‘THE TRYST is a sly, feral, witty, offbeat erotic novella that unsettles the reader, even as it arouses.' - Rowan Pelling, editor, The Amorist
‘I’ve read THE TRYST and was enormously entertained and impressed. It’s wild and witching, at once contemporary and atavistic, with an anarchicsexual energy running through it and a startling frankness, not only about sex, but about love and relationships, gender and power ... a daring write and a consuming read.’ - Bidisha, writer and broadcaster
‘While THE TRYST offers magic and sensuality aplenty, it lays bare the violence that heteronormative couples will do to ‘others’ to keep the home system stoked. It can be read as a fable about intimacy and erotic power. Disturbingly, it can also be read as a fable about the socially established vs. the disposable.’ - Vahni Capildeo, poet, Forward Prize winner
‘Sexy as hell. A cross between the work of Angela Carter and Anaïs Nin, THE TRYST weaves the urban and the modern with dark myth. Roffey is a risk taking and masterful storyteller.’ - J Malloy, author of The Story of X