This is the spellbinding follow-up to Kate Holden’s memoir In My Skin, but it has a different story to tell.
The Romantic describes Kate’s journey from Melbourne to Rome and Naples, from romance and sex to love, from loss to understanding—and back again.This is a book about everything from sex with strangers to the heartbreaking realities of being in love. It’s about the pride of fierce independence and the crushing weight of loneliness. It’s about losing yourself in love and then finding yourself through your lover.
But most of all, The Romantic is the story of one woman’s pilgrimage to discover who she really is. And to learn to like what she finds.
‘Holden has returned with a brilliant follow up. The Romantic is just as confronting and beautiful as her first.‘
‘Whether she is wallowing in self-hatred or dissolving with desire, her [Holden] insights are always keenly observed.’
‘Holden’s raw sequel to In My Skin is a sensual, sexy, brutally honest memoir.‘
‘The Romantic’s strength may be that it doesn’t end as a therapy-novel-meets-backpacker-romance…Which might be the most truthful kind of autobiography of all.’
‘She is an incredible writer, and I loved this book for its honesty and its beautiful prose. 4 stars.’