Blank Canvas

Blank Canvas by Grace Murray presents a fresh take on the campus novel, exploring themes of deceit, denial, grief, and reinvention—all seen through the eyes of a student who lies about her father’s death. This novel is crafted by an outstanding new voice in literary fiction.

"If I ever woke up with an ungodly dread—that I could change it all now, turn around, and confess—I ignored it. I had never been good, and there was no point in trying now."

On a small liberal arts campus in upstate New York, Charlotte begins her final year with a lie. She tells everyone her father died over the summer. Heart attack. Very sudden.

Charlotte had never been close with her classmates, but as she repeats her tale, their expressions soften into kindness. Thus, she learns there are things worth lying for—attention, affection, and, as she embarks on a relationship with fellow student Katarina, even love. All she needs to do is keep control of the threads that hold her lie—and her life—together.

But six thousand miles away, in the grey two-up-two-down Staffordshire terrace she grew up in, her father is very much alive, watching television and drinking beer. While Charlotte has always kept difficult truths at arm’s length, her father’s resolve to visit his distant daughter might just be the one thing she can’t control.