Lover's Discourse

A story of desire, love and language - told through fragments of conversations between two lovers - that explores romantic love

A Chinese woman comes to London in 2015 to do a PhD in film anthropology, and to start a new life - away from her dead parents, away from her old world. She knew she would be lonely, but will her new relationship with the Australian-British-German landscape architect bring her closer to this land she has chosen, will their love give her a home?

A Lover's Discourse is an exploration of romantic love told through fragments of conversations between the two lovers. Playing with language and the cultural differences that her narrator encounters as she settles into life in a Britain still reeling from the Brexit vote, Xiaolu Guo shows us how this couple navigate these differences, and their romance, whether on their unmoored houseboat or in a cramped and stifling flat share in east London... Suffused with a wonderful sense of humour and tenderness, this novel deals with big themes: what is the meaning of home? How can a man and woman be together? And how best to be a woman and a mother?