Lean Cat, Savage Cat

An artist’s bohemian existence in Berlin implodes in this exquisite novel from Joseph (At Certain Points We Touch). Shortly after meeting handsome Berlin-based stranger Alexander at a London bar, Charli, an art-school graduate from a working-class family in Liverpool, impulsively follows him to Berlin. She joins an eclectic, hard-partying community of foreigners, including Polly, an Anglo-Irish artist Charli met in art school, and Finley, an American painter, DJ, and sex worker. As Charli falls deeper into a demimonde of drugs, parties, and sex, she devotes herself to supporting Alexander’s burgeoning career as a pop star. His rising fame brings out tensions in their relationship, leading to a series of betrayals that set the characters on a path to tragedy. Joseph’s pitch-perfect voice propels Charli’s story toward its bitter end, and her keen eye captures both the hardscrabble glamour of her characters’ lives and the dark underside of a dream come true. This fierce and original narrative has the feel of a classic. Agent: Zoe Ross, United Agents. (Feb.)