Placeholders
UK Publisher
Verve Books
Date Published
September 26th, 2024
An unflinching and emotionally insightful debut about cultural identity, homesickness, love and loss.
In the five years following his brother’s death, Aaron has built himself a life of solitary routines. After moving from Dublin to Boston, and illegally overstaying her visa, Róisín has done the same.
When the two meet on a night out, they each find in the other something missing in their lives. A semblance of home.
Their relationship is complicated by their disparate religious backgrounds – Aaron is Jewish; Roísín is atheist – and by the harsh realities of everyday life. Just as they’re pushed to their breaking point, Roísín realises she is pregnant.
Placeholders is a poignant story of loneliness corrected and the transformative power of love. The next fix for fans of Sally Rooney, Nick Hornby, David Nicholls, Louise Kennedy and Coco Mellors.
Reviews
There's no way around it: James Roseman writes beautifully. Confident, complex, moving, funny, Placeholders is a
novel that makes a beeline to the heart. Time and again, I didn't want it to end
- Declan Toohey, author of PERPETUAL COMEDOWN
Humane, heartfelt and beautifully observed. Roseman raises huge questions about identity, belonging and family, excelling in his depiction of the small, everyday exchanges which make or break a relationship. A quietly, powerful novel, from a writer I'm keen to keep my eye on
- Jan Carson, author QUICKLY, WHILE THEY STILL HAVE HORSES
"A subtle, beautifully written story of two young people trying to make a life – together and as individuals – under the pressures of late capitalism… written with an unflinching tenderness"
- Larissa Pham, author of POP SONG