The Night Alphabet
On sale
10th April 2025
Price: £10.99
A Guardian Book of the Year 2024
‘A glorious jewel of a novel’ Sophie Ward
‘Exhilarating, profoundly beautiful and exquisitely written’ Salena Godden
‘A mesmerising debut from one of the most talented literary stylists writing today’ The Bookseller
‘Hugely imaginative’ Marie Claire (Best New Books, 2024)
‘It’s hard to think of many books more restlessly inventive’ Guardian (Book of the Day)
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Hackney, 2233: a woman walks into a tattoo parlour. Jones’ body is covered in tattoos but she wants to add one final inking to her gallery – a thin line of ink that connects the haunting images of her body art together, creating a unique and mysterious map.
As the two tattoo artists set to work, Jones tells them the story behind each tattoo. As Jones is no ordinary woman, these are no ordinary stories: each one represents a doorway to a life Jones fell into, a ‘remembering’.
Set across geographies and time-spans, The Night Alphabet is a deep and bold investigation into violence, resilience and women’s stories.
‘A glorious jewel of a novel’ Sophie Ward
‘Exhilarating, profoundly beautiful and exquisitely written’ Salena Godden
‘A mesmerising debut from one of the most talented literary stylists writing today’ The Bookseller
‘Hugely imaginative’ Marie Claire (Best New Books, 2024)
‘It’s hard to think of many books more restlessly inventive’ Guardian (Book of the Day)
———————————————————————————
Hackney, 2233: a woman walks into a tattoo parlour. Jones’ body is covered in tattoos but she wants to add one final inking to her gallery – a thin line of ink that connects the haunting images of her body art together, creating a unique and mysterious map.
As the two tattoo artists set to work, Jones tells them the story behind each tattoo. As Jones is no ordinary woman, these are no ordinary stories: each one represents a doorway to a life Jones fell into, a ‘remembering’.
Set across geographies and time-spans, The Night Alphabet is a deep and bold investigation into violence, resilience and women’s stories.
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Reviews
The Night Alphabet is a glorious jewel of a novel, rich with language and story, that glows in your mind's eye long after you have set it down. Taylor manages to combine her vivid poetry with a truly engaging tale of female resilience, an Illustrated Woman for our times.
Joelle Taylor's debut novel The Night Alphabet is phenomenal. This book is exhilarating, profoundly beautiful and exquisitely written, it is poetic, empowered, courageous. The Night Alphabet is an inspired piece of truly magical and brilliant story telling.
A mesmerising debut from one of the most talented literary stylists writing today.
This hugely imaginative debut by TS Elliott-prizewinning poet Taylor pulls no punches... a fierce, tender - at times highly uncomfortable - study of power, agency and resilience.
Exquisitely written . . . Joelle Taylor reveals herself as an extraordinary storyteller.
Unsurprisingly, Joelle's lyrical prose is utterly dazzling and her imagination is highly original, resulting in an arresting, absorbing book that will stay with you long after you put it down. Both bold and brilliant.
Ooof. This story. Hackney, 2233. A dystopian tale untangled through tattoos. Joelle's writing, as with her poetry
recitals, feels so physical, and leaves me breathless.
Exceedingly well written
It's hard to think of many books more restlessly inventive
Joelle Taylor brings extraordinary linguistic inventiveness to a tale of tattoo artists and violence against women.