Use the Words You Have (Novel)

A literary romance like no other – Kimberly Campanello’s debut novel unfurls over a hot Breton summer as American student K embarks on a love affair with a local.

Barred from using English by their French programme, the Americans’ identities flicker and fade. Yet for K this dissolution opens space for profound transformation.

Heady and poetic, erotic and intelligent, this is a coming-of-age tale that reveals how coming-of-age – at its pinnacle – means coming alive. Alive to touch and taste, pleasure and ecstasy.

To the sea, the sun and eternity.

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Published: June 23rd

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Praise for Use the Words You Have...

'Amidst feverish publicity campaigns vying for the book of the summer, Campanello has discreetly slid a masterpiece into the mix.'—The Irish Examiner

'Campanello’s abiding interest in language transforms this into a moving study of both literary form and desire.'—Times Literary Supplement

'Use the Words You Have is effervescent, unfurling like a prose poem.' —The Irish Times

'Campanello owes a great deal to writers such as Rachel Cusk and Deborah Levy. But her novel holds its own alongside those works.' —Barry Pierce, The Big Issue

‘A moving meditation on the capacity of language and love to shape us… saturated in sun and salt water, drenched in heat and longing.’ —Jessica Andrews, author of Milk Teeth

‘Eroticism here is as much about discovering another’s body as it is about discovering the body through language.’—Jason Allen-Paisant, author of The Possibility of Tenderness

‘It’s been a complete pleasure to read this… The restraint, clarity and precision of the writing is faultless.’—Joanna Walsh, author of Worlds from the Word’s End

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Product Photography by Marloes Haarmans 

Original Cover Artwork by Nanténé Traoré

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