The astonishing, lyrical and ambitious second novel by the winner of the Irish Book of the Year Award Now part of the Picador Collection

‘Gripping, completely compelling . . . A sublime talent’ – Donal Ryan, author of The Spinning Heart

‘Captures what it is like to be young in Dublin with grace, subtlety and sympathy’ – Colm Tóibín, author of Long Island

Catherine and James are as close as two friends could ever be. Witty, talented and charming, James is unlike anyone Catherine has encountered before, and she finds herself hungry to explore with him all that Dublin in the ‘90s has to offer – even as James struggles to find his place in it.

But as their connection intensifies, Catherine discovers that there’s a fine line between longing and love, friendship and obsession . . .

From the author of the multi-award-winning debut Solace, Tender by Belinda McKeon is a dazzling exploration of the complexities of sexuality and human relationships, a novel about friendship and youth, about selfhood, about the lies we tell ourselves and the lies we are taught to tell.

‘A superb and sophisticated writer’ – The Times

‘Richly nuanced and utterly absorbing’ – The Guardian

Part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the best of modern literature.

‘Gripping, completely compelling . . . A sublime talent’ – Donal Ryan, author of The Spinning Heart

‘Captures what it is like to be young in Dublin with grace, subtlety and sympathy’ – Colm Tóibín, author of Long Island

Catherine and James are as close as two friends could ever be. Witty, talented and charming, James is unlike anyone Catherine has encountered before, and she finds herself hungry to explore with him all that Dublin in the ‘90s has to offer – even as James struggles to find his place in it.

But as their connection intensifies, Catherine discovers that there’s a fine line between longing and love, friendship and obsession . . .

From the author of the multi-award-winning debut Solace, Tender by Belinda McKeon is a dazzling exploration of the complexities of sexuality and human relationships, a novel about friendship and youth, about selfhood, about the lies we tell ourselves and the lies we are taught to tell.

‘A superb and sophisticated writer’ – The Times

‘Richly nuanced and utterly absorbing’ – The Guardian

Part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the best of modern literature.

"McKeon's first novel, Solace, was a work of quiet beauty that won the Irish Book of the Year Award . . . I don't want to give anything away, but one of the joys of this novel is the unpredictable direction it takes and I read it in one sitting in a state of continual surprise." - The Bookseller

"Tender charts the marshy territory of friendship, obsession and love, and offers no easy path. . . richly nuanced and utterly absorbing" - Guardian

"McKeon is a superb and sophisticated writer, who captures the barely articulable feelings between young people on the brink of adulthood" - The Times

"Tender is the best Irish novel I've read since The Spinning Heart, a work rich with wisdom, truth and beauty. . . I can scarcely think of higher praise than to say that Belinda McKeon could be our Anne Tyler. There is simply not a false note anywhere in Tender" - Irish Times

"Student life and coming-of-age in Ireland in the late 1990s are adroitly captured in all their drunken glory, but it is the couple's relationship that comes alive as McKeon traces, with intense subtlety and humaneness, the causes and patterns of infatuation" - Sunday Times

"An elegant exploration of a friendship turned sour. . . [this] carefully constructed tale of loss and betrayal thrums with sadness, danger and the dizzying desire to possess" - Financial Times

"A devastating portrait of a friendship and a pitch-perfect encapsulation of youthful obsession and self-delusion." - Irish Times

"One of the most exquisite endings I've read in some time. . . [this] moving novel suggests that while love may not be undying, try as we might, it is uncontrollable" - NPR

"Stunning . . . a profoundly moving, deeply disturbing examination of the nature of love and relationships, of friendship and loss, of obsession and the psychic violence of love, a book which surprises at every turn" - Toronto Star

"McKeon regards the characters in her keenly wrought love story—for all their flaws and fragility – with insight, sensitivity, and a compassion that proves contagious" - Kirkus