Cleanness (Longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize)

‘This is an exceptional work of fiction, which places Greenwell among the very best contemporary novelists’ The i

Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia, stirs with hope and impending upheaval. Soviet buildings crumble, unrelenting winds lash the city, political protesters flood the streets with song.

Amid this disquiet, a young American teacher prepares to leave the place he’s come to call home. In a reflective mood, heightened by his imminent departure, he grapples with the intimate encounters that have marked his years abroad, each revealing startling insights about what it means to seek connection: with those we love, with the places we inhabit and with ourselves.

Written in precise, elegant prose, Cleanness is an almost unbearably poignant book about a man whose life, like so many, has been transformed by the discovery and loss of love.

Chosen as a book of the year in the New Yorker, Daily Telegraph, Observer, New York Times, BBC, TIME and Irish Times.
A New York Times Notable Book of 2020
Longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize.

Greenwell displays an extraordinary skill at handling time . . . A piece of bravura writing . . . A style that is both clinically precise and fiercely sensual . . . Exquisite -- Colm Tóibín ― New York Times Book Review

A brilliant examination of love and intimacy -- SJ Watson ― The Times

Intense, emotional and super-sexy ― Sunday Telegraph

Greenwell may be the finest writer of sex currently at work. He is certainly the most exhilarating ― Times Literary Supplement

Radiant . . . compassion, that supreme quality in a fiction writer, is a main source of Greenwell's power -- Sigrid Nunez ― New York Review of Books

Incandescent . . . Greenwell has an uncanny gift, one that comes along rarely ― New York Times

This book is brilliant ― Observer

Cleanness is wise and illuminating . . . a talented writer of beautiful sentences, and an insightful guide to the strange ways people have of loving each other ― Guardian

Garth Greenwell has joined the canon of great gay writers . . . enthralling ― Daily Telegraph

Greenwell is a master of precision: everyday intimacy is so well wrought that it can feel unbearable to read, as if he cuts too close to the skin ― Financial Times