Boy Parts: A Novel

One of Granta's Best Young British Novelists 2023

An incendiary debut novel from a brash new talent—a pitch-black comedy, both shocking and hilarious, which fearlessly explores sexuality and gender roles in the twenty-first century.

“Hallucinogenic, electric and sharp, Boy Parts is a whirlwind exploration of gender, class, and power.”—Jessica Andrews, author of Saltwater

Exiled from the art world and on sabbatical from her dead-end bar job, Irina, the novel's sharp and unreliable narrator, obsessively takes explicit photographs of the average-looking men she persuades to model for her, scouted from the streets of Newcastle.

But her talent has not gone unnoticed, and Irina is invited to display her work at a fashionable London gallery. It is a chance to revive her career and escape from the rut of drugs, alcohol, and extreme cinema she’s fallen into. Yet the news instead triggers a self-destructive tailspin of obsession, centered around Irina’s consuming relationship with her best friend, and a shy young man from her local supermarket who has attracted her attention. . . .

"Eliza Clark is unflinching in this witty and shocking excavation of female rage and desire, and is sure to gain a cultish following. It is unlike anything I’ve read before, and it left me utterly invigorated and repulsed." - Elizabeth MacNeal, author of The Doll Factory

"Boundaries are for breaking and if anyone can crash through and reinterpret the fear of our time, Eliza Clark can." - MsLexia

"Even at its most transgressive, it all feels effortless. Dark, funny, bold, it’s an exceptional debut." - The Skinny

"An impressive, fiercely current debut . . . delightful and addictive." - i News

"[Clark's] writing embraces the socially unacceptable, and wryly explores themes of gender, power and violence." - Granta Best of Young British Novelists 2023

"A mischievous satire narrated by a predatory photographer whose images of her male victims are hailed at a hip London gallery as edgy roleplay." - The Observer

"It’s delightfully and deviously rooted in the now with its delectable internet and culture references and evocative and real-feeling portrait of women." - Dazed Digital

"A funny and intensely readable spiral staircase down into the mind of a woman who wears a waist trainer under her clothes and who may or may not be a keen purveyor of ultra-violence." - Vice

"Explores the darkest corners of artistic practice, sexuality and violence with bold wit and fearlessness. A dazzling, horrifying debut." - Irish Times

"Hallucinogenic, electric and sharp, Boy Parts is a whirlwind exploration of gender, class and power. In funny, acerbic prose, Clark shows us how it feels to inhabit a body that moves through a world full of eyes. She illuminates the cracks that begin to appear when the subject turns voyeur and the violence inherent in the shatter." - Jessica Andrews, author of Saltwater

"Boy Parts is a carnival funhouse ride–terrifying, feverish, hilarious. Clark has created a wholly original monster and a sickeningly compulsive novel. I absolutely inhaled this book." - Julia Armfield, author of Salt Slow

"Smart, stylish and very funny, Boy Parts is a gripping and unflinching exploration of female desire, narcissism, sexuality and rage. You won't want to put it down." - Lara Williams, author of Supper Club

“Will make most readers howl with laughter and/or shut their eyes in horror.” - The Guardian

“The main protagonist will prove to be one of the most alluring, infuriating, and complex characters in modern British literature.” - Niall Griffiths