Heatwaves are a disruptive force in literature, setting the scene for transformative acts of transgression as inhibitions are cast off. The effect is felt particularly keenly in the ordinarily temperate English countryside – just think of LP Hartley’s The Go-Between, Ian McEwan’s Atonement or, indeed, Penelope Lively’s Heat Wave. To that list can now be added K Patrick’s debut novel, a striking queer romance in which lust yields subtle revelations about sexual power and selfhood.
The dislocation of soaring temperatures is enhanced by its unnamed protagonist’s outsider status. At 22, she’s a butch lesbian from Australia who is still exploring her gender identity when she’s appointed matron at a very British girls’ boarding school governed by arcane rules and rituals. Everything feels alien to her, including her hunger for the headteacher’s wife, the eponymous Mrs S.
