The Literary Edit

The Literary Edit

Home
Desert Island Books
Favourite Reads
Places Worth Going
Essays
Bookish Bits
Archive
About
What I've been reading on Substack
Links to everything I've loved on Substack this month...
 • 
Lucy Pearson
6
Katie Yee's Desert Island Books
Featuring the giant novel that Katie's been wanting to read for years, and the book she re-reads every September...
 • 
Lucy Pearson
An incomplete list of the books that have made me ugly-cry (part I)
At a beach club in Croatia, a tattoo parlour in Bondi, and the District Line en route to Richmond…
 • 
Lucy Pearson
1
Jane Green's Desert Island Books
Featuring the series Jane plunged headfirst into in the eighties, and the first serious book she fell in love with...
 • 
Lucy Pearson
Eighteen books by men I love
Featuring memoirs, classic romps, and books that have made me ugly-cry in public...
 • 
Lucy Pearson
5
Emma Forrest's Desert Island Books
Featuring an astonishing debut, and a novel ribboned with sadness and longing...
 • 
Lucy Pearson
1
Jessie Elland's Desert Island Books
Featuring the book Jessie revisits every year, and the one she’d choose if she could only read a single book for the rest of her life...
 • 
Lucy Pearson
1

July 2025

Claire Adam's Desert Island Books
Featuring the book that lives on her bedside table, and a hugely readable play...
 • 
Lucy Pearson
3
Emma Strenner's Desert Island Books
Featuring a tale of forbidden love and the writing book with life advice to live by...
 • 
Lucy Pearson
1
It was only a fling—so why did it haunt me for half a decade?
On a fleeting romance, its lasting impact—and the quiet grief of unrequited love...
 • 
Lucy Pearson
4
Honor Jones's Desert Island Books
Featuring a lingering poetry collection, and a story where dread seeps into the domestic...
 • 
Lucy Pearson
8
Nine heady novels set in Paris
A city of secrets, seduction and reckless excess...
 • 
Lucy Pearson
16
© 2025 Lucy Pearson
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture