Prairie Oyster

‘Had me laughing, wincing, cheering, recognising, admiring – and turning pages, rapidly’ (Maggie Nelson)

By: Sophie Robinson

Narrated by: Alby Baldwin

'A masterful contribution to the canon of queer women's literature. A smart and uncomfortable dissection of longing' SHON FAYE

'Sophie out-jars The Bell Jar with this dark and gleaming masterpiece' EILEEN MYLES

'Unflinching, unexpected, radical, lyrical, and wholly original' SOPHIE MACKINTOSH

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Everything falls into place: she will get sober, she will eat well, she will start sleeping properly, she will work hard, she will resurrect her career, she will make The Lakes, she will charm Mitch, she will be somebody

Pearl is a thirty-something filmmaker balanced precariously on the edge of an addiction-fuelled breakdown. But when she is invited to interview her idol and crush, lesbian cult filmmaker Mitch Meyer, her stilted life restarts.

Buoyed and seduced by Mitch's interest in her and her work, Pearl swaps alcoholism for romantic obsession, and London for a summer in New York with Mitch. All the while she is haunted by a project she has been toying with for years: a film about Veronica Lake, a 1940s film star who drank herself into obscurity.

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'I loved this lyrical fever dream of a novel. Melancholic, hopeful, seedy, dazzling, tender, brutal. Just gorgeous' EMMA VAN STRAATEN

'Best novelistic treatment of addiction I've read in years' KIERAN GODDARD

'Robinson's prose is as addictive as Pearl's wanting. A fearless look into the dark' LAUREN MCQUISTIN

'This lush and detailed dive into the flayed-open femme heart is irresistible - wild, cringey, addictive, relatable' MICHELLE TEA©2026 Sophie Robinson (P)2026 Little, Brown Book Group Limited

Critic reviews

Prairie Oyster had me laughing, wincing, cheering, recognizing, admiring - and turning pages, rapidly. Sophie Robinson has gifted us a new classic of the (queer) lovelorn, strung out, and lurching toward art and new life (Maggie Nelson)

Sophie out jars The Bell Jar with this dark and gleaming masterpiece. I cried twice at her tale of how love, nature, and art rumble aloud right up to the edge in a story that's both scary and godly. In life or on the page she did this (Eileen Myles)

Sophie Robinson's debut is a masterful contribution to the canon of queer women's literature. She has such power over language and tension that I had to surrender to the rush and the nausea of Pearl's misguided obsession. A smart and uncomfortable dissection of longing taken to its ultimate conclusion (Shon Faye)

I loved this meditative, lyrical fever dream of a novel. A tense and poetic exploration of obsession and art, it is beautiful and painful, like pressing a bruise. Melancholic, hopeful, seedy, dazzling, tender, brutal. Just gorgeous (Emma van Straaten)

Sophie Robinson has long been one of my favourite poets, so when I heard she was writing a book I knew it was going to be something special. Her work is unflinching, unexpected, radical, lyrical, and wholly original. Sometimes bleak, always beautiful, she writes like nobody else (Sophie Mackintosh)

Sophie Robinson's lush and detailed dive into the flayed-open femme heart is irresistible - wild, cringey, addictive, relatable. The ride to hell and back is real, and so perversely enjoyable you emerge sweaty, wanting to go back for more. Her excavation of the heart's chaos is so immersive and femme, so dirty and poppy and unafraid, emotional and frank and funny (Michelle Tea)

Best novelistic treatment of addiction I've read in years (Kerian Goddard)

Prairie Oyster is unparalleled in exploring the drowning, visceral ache of obsession and the reality of a complete unravelling all the way to the edge. Robinson's prose is as addictive as Pearl's wanting, this is a fearless look into the dark (Lauren McQuistin)