Snakebite sonnet

the long version

Every young man has his Julia May Turrell: the impossibly charismatic, intractable first love whose reckless affections can dismantle a life utterly. Nick is smart. Nick is witty. And - arguably - Nick is no fool. Yet Julia's sudden reappearances leave him dumb with devotion, dizzy with lust. In the unforgettable voice of Nick, and the ineffable force of Julia, Max Phillips has created a stirring hymn to romantic desperation, a novel that resounds equally with the sweetness of youth and the asperity of hard-won wisdom. Snakebite Sonnet is both achingly sad and laugh-out-loud funny, and it will linger in the mind long after its poignant conclusion.