- Imprint: Penguin
- ISBN: 9781405979665
- Length: 272 pages
- Price: £7.99
Blank Canvas
One of the best debuts I’ve read this year ... I read the whole thing in one sitting, so enmeshed in Charlotte’s life and lies that I simply couldn’t leave her. A character eliciting the level of frustration and sympathy that Charlotte does in a reader is a mark of truly impressive writing. The middle act, set in Italy, floored me. Murray’s writing moves between a New York campus, a terraced house in Lichfield and a workaway trip in Italy with the ease of a writer unencumbered – each setting, each relationship, and each conversation felt real, as if they were being recounted to the reader from memory. Grace Murray is a writer to watchJodie Matthews, author of Meet Me At The Surface
About Grace Murray
Grace Murray is twenty-one and grew up in Norwich. She is a final year student reading English Literature at Edinburgh University, where she finds time to write between her studies and two part-time jobs.
In writing Blank Canvas, Grace set out to explore themes of Catholic guilt and queer identity, clashing moral codes and lies, and the opportunity for reinvention presented by moving between countries and settings.
Blank Canvas was written over the course of a year as part of WriteNow, Penguin Random House’s flagship mentorship scheme for emerging talent. Grace Murray won one of nine places on the scheme on the exceptional strength of her writing, selected from a pool of over 1,300 applicants.
In writing Blank Canvas, Grace set out to explore themes of Catholic guilt and queer identity, clashing moral codes and lies, and the opportunity for reinvention presented by moving between countries and settings.
Blank Canvas was written over the course of a year as part of WriteNow, Penguin Random House’s flagship mentorship scheme for emerging talent. Grace Murray won one of nine places on the scheme on the exceptional strength of her writing, selected from a pool of over 1,300 applicants.
Details
All editions
- Hardback 2026
- Ebook 2026