Karen Connelly’s latest, The Change Room, is drawing big praise for its depiction of a married woman’s surprising, transformative affair. Reviews and fans affirm that the novel meets every one of my Perfect Summer Read criteria: urban, witty, funny, sexy, humane and no doubt as elegantly written as Connelly’s past works. We tend to give so much attention to debut novelists, but I love watching a writer evolve, and Connelly is building a beautiful body of work.” —Katrina Onstad, author of Everybody Has Everything and The Weekend Effect (A Writers’ Trust of Canada 2017 Summer Reading pick)
“Sexy CanLit . . . Karen Connelly’s new novel is exactly that—and as steamy as the shower scene that gets things going.” —Sarah Murdoch, Toronto Star
“The Change Room opens up definitions and breaks boundaries, depicting ordinary lives that turn utterly erotic. . . . [A] warm, refreshing swim on a frigid day. . . . It’s hard to write sex that isn’t too pornographic, awkward or scientific-sounding. . . . Connelly’s sex writing is detailed and frank, never embarrassing and designed, like her description of a cake’s flavour, to give pleasure. In the end many forms of sweetness run together: wine, flirtation, intimacy, friendship, nourishment, excitement, satisfaction, music, poetry.” —Liz Harmer, The Globe and Mail
“In The Change Room, Connelly is at her provocative best.” —Dave Williamson, Winnipeg Free Press
“I was blown away by Karen Connelly’s The Change Room. . . . [Connelly] knocks it outta the park with this one. . . . This is not a guy’s version of sex and this is not a Harlequin version of sex. This is real. Interspersed with doing the dishes. Well done, Karen Connelly.” —Shelley Macbeth, seller at Blue Heron Books, 49th Shelf
“Erotic. Truthful. Cunning. This is the juicy peach of a novel you’ve been longing to devour. Bless Karen Connelly for writing the life of a middle-aged woman with all the lusty bravura it deserves. I dare you to read The Change Room and not be simultaneously astonished and aroused.” —Ami McKay, author of The Witches of New York
“The Change Room is a book couples should take to bed and read out loud. Never embarrassing or lurid, always deeply arousing, the sex in this book is exquisitely written. But The Change Room offers the reader so much more than titillation. Connelly gives us a challenging view of marriage, a frank appraisal of the physical and mental exhaustion so many of us feel carrying the weight of domestic life, and a long overdue acknowledgement of our shared desire for respite. More than that, The Change Room directs our gaze to an ancient and fundamental truth: sex is sacred and if we forget this as a culture, or don’t appease this aspect of the divine within ourselves, our spirit, our relationships and our society suffers.” —Gail Anderson-Dargatz, author of The Spawning Grounds
“[A] sexy, stirring novel.” —49th Shelf
