Lovesick (Lillian Telford, HQ Fiction)

Lillian Telford’s debut novel, Lovesick, explores love, obsession, abandonment, addiction and heartbreak, exposing the emotional fractures of characters shaped by trauma.

When the lives of two lonely young people collide on a drug-fuelled night out in Brisbane’s West End, a relationship follows, but from the beginning of the novel, readers are made aware that it has already ended.

Gabby and Gordon have both experienced parental abandonment – Gabby through her parents’ emotional neglect and Gordon through the physical absence of his mother. Telford examines how these early wounds shape their adult relationships, rendering their connection deeply affecting and uncomfortably realistic. Told from both characters’ perspectives, the novel moves from past to present, making for a tense, emotionally charged story that pieces together what led to the unravelling of their relationship. Themes of loneliness, self-destructive behaviour and a persistent sense of unworthiness are explored with nuance, as both characters search for belonging and connection. Readers who have experienced heartache will likely recognise the emotional patterns at play and the damaging choices the pair continue to make.

The lines between love and lust blur as insecurities surface and difficult truths emerge. The question of whether Gabby and Gordon can find a way to heal and return to each other or remain trapped in these cycles drives the narrative forward.

Readers of Sally Rooney, Coco Mellors and Florence Knapp will find much to engage with in this emotionally charged debut.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Nikki Taylor is an avid reader and reviewer. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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