Hi everyone,

There are few more exciting moments for a writer than the one when the cover of a new book is revealed.  So, I'm delighted to share with you the cover for my next novel, THE EMPTY ROOM, which will be out in Canada with Harper Collins, May 2013.

I must say, I quite love the cover.  Although I know the 'rule' of graphic design is to have the figure looking into the space, rather than out of it, I feel breaking the rule here creates a sort of tension and disturbance in the viewer, which reflects the subject matter.

Here's the way Harper Collins Canada describes the book:

A critically acclaimed novelist’s unforgettable portrayal of addiction from the inside out

Colleen Kerrigan wakes up sick, bruised, with no clear memory of the night before and vows to quit drinking.  It’s Monday morning, and she is late for work, again. She’s shocked to see the near-empty vodka bottle on her kitchen counter. It was full at noon yesterday: surely she didn’t drink that much last night? As she struggles out the door to the bus, she fights the urge to have a sip, just to take the edge off. But no, she’s not going to drink today.

But today is the day Colleen’s demons come for her. A very bad day spirals into night as a series of flashbacks take the reader through Colleen’s past—moments of friendship and loss, and fragments of peace and possibility. We see how connections fade, how crippling loneliness can be, and witness the importance and grace of one human being reaching out to another.  The single constant is the bottle—always in reach, Colleen’s worst enemy and her only friend

In this partly autobiographic work, acclaimed novelist Lauren B. Davis has created as searing, raw and powerful a portrayal of the chaos and pain of alcoholism as we have seen in fiction. With compassion, insight, and an irresistible gallows humour, The Empty Room takes us on a clear-eyed journey to the depths of addiction, and poses the bracing question of whether it’s ever possible to get all the way back.

My agents, Kim Witherspoon & David Forrer at Inkwell Management represent the work, and are in the process of looking for a US publisher.  Fingers crossed.