Wednesday 7th May
6.30-9pm
Join us to celebrate the publication of Pig by Matilde Pratesi. Matilde will be in conversation with Alice Slater.
'Aksai Black Pied, American Yorkshire, Angeln Saddleback...'
Pigs are Valentina's safe place. When she's feeling overwhelmed, she lists the breeds until her mind becomes quiet again.
Vale struggles to live life without order. Every morning, she reads the note that her flatmate Clara has pinned on the fridge telling her what to wear and what to eat, before leaving for her job at a bookshop.
Sometimes Vale's colleagues invite her to drinks, but she never goes. She knows that Clara wouldn't be happy if Vale socialised with others. As Clara's told her plenty of times - who else would put up with her weird pig facts?
But a chance encounter at the bookshop leads to an exciting opportunity. As Vale steps into the world of other people, Clara tightens her grip: she isn't yet ready to let go of her favourite prey.
Shortlisted for the Caledonia Novel Award, Pig is a razor-sharp, disturbing novel about toxic female friendship unlike any other.
MATILDE PRATESI grew up in Italy and moved to London in her early twenties. Since then, she has immersed herself in the city's literary scene, finding her writing community around pub tables, working men's colleges, online courses and the Creative Writing MA at Birkbeck University of London. Pig is her debut novel.
ALICE SLATER spent six years working as a bookseller for Waterstones. Her debut novel, Death of a Bookseller, was an instant Sunday Times bestseller and won Debut Crime Book of the Year at Capital Crime’s Fingerprint Awards 2024. It was also shortlisted for CrimeFest’s Specsavers Best Debut Crime Novel 2023 and longlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award 2024. She co-hosts literary podcast What Page Are You On? and lives in London with her husband, their dog Peachy and a lot of books.