Stephanie Sy-Quia

An exquisite slow-burn forbidden love story. 'A truly impressive debut novel, one I could see appearing on the Booker longlist' The Sunday Times 'I couldn't put it down' - The Independent 'Thrilling' - The Observer 'It’s a rare pleasure to read this novel' - Sarah Moss 'A rich, elegant and textured novel . . . brilliant' - Seán Hewitt 'Truly Outstanding' - Melissa Harrison 'Pulsing with sensuality' - Daily Mail An Observer Debut of 2026 Rome, 1953. David is young, handsome, charismatic and sworn to celibacy. He is freshly ordained, and about to return to England to begin life as a priest. Devotion to God is all he’s ever known. In London, Margaret is entangled in an impossible love affair. Committed to living on her own terms without sacrificing her faith, she becomes drawn to a women’s movement challenging the archaic rules of the Church. When their lives are thrown together at a Catholic college in a quiet village, an undeniable connection forms between them. Stephanie Sy-Quia’s A Private Man is a stunning story of devotion and sacrifice, and of the consequences of our actions that ripple throughout generations.

'Lush, evocative and sexy' The Sunday Times

A Private Man

Amnion is a contemporary lyric epic, journeying from the Philippines to Libya, through France, Spain, and the UK. This debut collection of poems questions keenly and urgently the roots of migration and colonialism, charting what it means to grow up in a family divided by geography, history and language. Managing the consequences of empire, familial discord, personal mythologies and contemporary issues of class and race, these narratives of history, both personal and public, are disseminated through Stephanie's patient and ever-expanding rhetoric. Lyrically charged, this book-length poem weaves memoir, essay and poetics with the eye of an archivist. Throughout, the lyric 'I' is questioned through the very fragments that come to represent it. Amnion feeds into the history of Homeric, epic verse with ambitious scope, grace and erudition, promising to be one of the most significant texts on contemporary personhood.

Stephanie Sy-Quia

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