Isaac

A kaleidoscopic, intimate coming-of-age novel of modern queer life

Set in London across a single, life-altering summer, Curtis Garner’s debut novel, Isaac, is a queer story for our digital age, offering new perspectives on desire and intimacy, adolescent obsession, and dangerous first love.

Isaac is an inexperienced gay youth whose first sexual encounter via a dating app is disappointing, yet thrillingly addictive. He spends his final months before university escaping into a dizzying new world of casual sex, but his world changes when he meets twenty-eight-year-old Harrison at a party.

Isaac is immediately drawn to this handsome, charismatic artist, but as they grow closer, his sense of self becomes increasingly hazy. As Harrison becomes more demanding, Isaac tries everything to prove his worthiness, but he soon realizes that he must confront his toxic ideas about love, sex, and men, as well as himself.

Written with verve and confidence, Isaac brilliantly captures the capriciousness of youth and the vagaries of queer desire.

Curtis Garner (he/him) was born in Cornwall, UK, in 1996. He has a degree in creative writing and English literature from the University of Greenwich and an MA with Distinction from the Manchester Writing School, where much of Isaac was written. In his spare time, he reviews novels on Instagram (@queer_novels). He lives in the London borough of Hackney.