Our 23rd Book of the Month, 'Blank Canvas' by Grace Murray is a sharp, quietly haunting novel about grief, loneliness and the seductive possibility of becoming someone else.
On a small art college campus in upstate New York, Charlotte begins her final year with a lie. Her father died over the summer, she says. Heart attack.
Very sudden. Awkward and insular, Charlotte has never really fit in. But now her sympathetic classmates treat her differently, showing their concern in attention, affection, and, as she begins a relationship with fellow student Katarina, even love.
Perhaps some things are worth lying for – no matter how big the lie gets. But six thousand miles away, in England, her father is very much alive, alone and unhappy in the cramped childhood home Charlotte left behind. She has always kept difficult truths at arm’s length, but his resolve to visit his distant daughter might just be the one thing she can’t control.
Buy the book here.
September, 2026
