Hero
A fierce and captivating literary love story for 2025
Published on 30. January 2025
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-1-0354-1307-2 (ISBN)
Description
Hero is a love story for our times: a novel that exposes the precious things women give up in order to be loved, and in order to be free.
'Pulls no punches... A fearless interrogation of female desire' Observer
'The truest representation of the headiness and power of female longing I've ever read' Kirsty Capes, author of Girls and Careless
'Thrilling and dynamic' Andrew McMillan, author of Pity and Playtime
'Fierce and thrillingly subversive' Financial Times
She's a waitress. He's a chef. They used to be best friends, but now, they're in love and living together in a studio apartment. She's also a selkie, Odysseus, and a cowgirl called Quick Fingers. He's a really good man.
When he asks her to marry him, Hero panics. She is lots of things but one thing she doesn't want to be is anybody's wife.
Drawing on a rich history of myth and legend, Hero is a story about what it means for women to be supporting characters in a world written by men. How can you be yourself when you are a product of other people's imaginations? How can you love another person and be free?
'Pulls no punches... A fearless interrogation of female desire' Observer
'The truest representation of the headiness and power of female longing I've ever read' Kirsty Capes, author of Girls and Careless
'Thrilling and dynamic' Andrew McMillan, author of Pity and Playtime
'Fierce and thrillingly subversive' Financial Times
She's a waitress. He's a chef. They used to be best friends, but now, they're in love and living together in a studio apartment. She's also a selkie, Odysseus, and a cowgirl called Quick Fingers. He's a really good man.
When he asks her to marry him, Hero panics. She is lots of things but one thing she doesn't want to be is anybody's wife.
Drawing on a rich history of myth and legend, Hero is a story about what it means for women to be supporting characters in a world written by men. How can you be yourself when you are a product of other people's imaginations? How can you love another person and be free?
Reviews / Votes
A lyrical exploration of the love we deserve but rarely receive. Buckley's writing is alchemical, transforming myth into truth and pain into hope -- Amy Twigg, author of Spoilt Creatures This bold, clever novel sharply dissects gender, power, desire and control. Tender and acerbic, Hero recognises the sacrifices women must make to be the authors of our own narratives. Buckley unsettles the reader's gaze in her excavation of myth-making, asking how we might construct our own legends from the wreckage of our patriarchal history. -- Jessica Andrews, author of Saltwater and Milk Teeth A thrilling and dynamic debut from a daring new voice -- Andrew McMillan, author of Pity and Playtime Katie Buckley has written a book that I now just want to give to every woman I know - especially those precious young women in my life. Hero made my heart run hot. And cold. Deliciously fierce, smart, insightful and deftly handled. It is hard to dissect gender and power, to be angry about the diminishing of women and their sense of self, without letting hatred get the upper hand - and none of us needs more hate in the world. But Buckley weaves anger with love, pain with a willingness to open up the heart again. It was a treasure. I loved it. -- Joanne Burn, author of THE HEMLOCK CURE and THE BONE HUNTERS This book is everything. Intimate, tender and radiant, Hero is an unmissable, immaculate tapestry that fiercely imagines the stories we tell ourselves and the stories that make us. -- Lucy Rose, author of THE LAMB The truest representation of the headiness and power of female longing I've ever read -- Kirsty Capes, author of THE GIRLS and CARELESS Expertly crafted. Buckley painfully understands the intricacies of love, its floating ecstasy, unbearable weight - and what happens when we yearn to run from it * Image * A real and exquisite exploration of love, relationships, trust and identity * Stylist * The novel explores themes of gender, desire, freedom, and the constraints imposed by traditional narratives. Buckley plays with myth and truth to great effect the prose is taut, the characters authentic * Glamour * HERO describes the reality of modern womanhood so clearly and without flinching. Buckley writes impeccably well, blending the reality and fairy tale in a fresh and exciting way. [The novel] reads in a feverish way, like a thriller and ultimately leaves the reader wrecked - but satisfied * Buzz *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Headline Publishing Group
Product notice
Trade binding
Dimensions
Height: 219 mm
Width: 141 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
362 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-0354-1307-2 (9781035413072)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Katie Buckley was born in Fowey, Cornwall, and grew up in Canada and the UK. She studied in Edinburgh, and is a graduate of the Creative Writing MA at Royal Holloway, where she was a Principal's Masters Scholar, and was a 2021/ 2022 London Library Emerging Writer.