Join consulate editor for Joyland Magazine and award-winning writer Ashani Lewis, to celebrate the publication of her seductive and sapphic debut novel, Winter Animals. A must read for fans of White Lotus and The Secret History.

In one of America's Happiest Cities, Elen is trapped under the shadow of the snow-capped Cascade Mountains. Her husband has left her. Her belongings are in the boot of her car. Her days are filled mostly with silence and drinking. When she meets four English teenagers in an empty bar, she is enamoured.

The teenagers are wealthy squatters, drifting between ski resorts and breaking into empty AirBnBs. As they welcome Elen into their group, she senses a violent secret that fuels the four's never-ending disappearing act. Vibrant and cultish, they force Elen to ruminate on the irresistible pull of bright young things. She cannot understand what they want from her - but why would Elen leave when she has nowhere else to go?

Ashani will be joined in conversation with a special guest to mediate on the dangers and seductive power of youthful idealism, and the slippages between friendship and love. Register now for this FREE event and get lost in a world coloured by freedom, desire and excess.

“A talented writer, Winter Animals is a dreamlike, piercing examination of privilege, youth and freedom.” Cecile Pin, author of Wandering Souls