As an unabashed fan of yearning, I was immediately drawn to the plot of Mrs. S by K Patrick, and was not at all let down. The undercurrent of passion and yearning is felt from the very first page, and the slow burn of this novel was beautifully restrained.
Without clear time period, the protagonist is allowed to explore their gender identity and sexuality at their own pace, while pining from afar for the titular Mrs. S. The readers are taken into the protagonists world as we all together try to uncover pieces of identity, in a way that gives the reader permission to take their own journey at their own pace. Unlike other, more didactic, LGBTQ+ novels, the reader isn't simply told that it's okay to figure things out whenever the time is right for them— we are shown what that process can look like, and how hard and angsty and atmospheric it can be.
A slow burn, that I look forward to revisiting again!

A lovely and thoughtful piece of writing, even if I can’t exactly say I “liked” it.

This is beautifully written, equal parts lyrical and poignantly awkward, and I loved the slow flowing richness of the text.

I was less interested in the plot, which is almost exclusively focused on a central relationship that I didn’t really feel invested in beyond the turns of phrase its imagined existence provoked from the author.

It’s hard to look at Mrs S as anything admirable or even likable. She’s a tough mix of what feels both predatory and needy, and that in turn makes our narrator and her obsession with Mrs S a bit hard to take. It’s easier to pity than relate to, which is always a tough hang for me in a very character-driven novel.

I wish the school environment had been more of a factor here (this is absolutely not what we would call campus fiction or academic fiction, more’s the pity), though what we do get of this from Patrick is wonderfully drawn.

But what caused me to round up from 3.5 stars on this one rather than down was how much I LOVED the Housemistress.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

This book was very interesting. I appreciated the setting and that it was focused on the professors at a boarding school, rather than the girls there, like many boarding school novels do. I thought the queer interactions were great, although I feel like this novel was too long and would have served the story better as a novella.

set against the backdrop of an elite english boarding school for girls, 'mrs. s' is an alluring, artful portrait of homoerotic enchantment and suppressed yearning that i think you should all buy immediately!!!

after moving from australia to work as a matron at the school, our nameless, 22-year-old protagonist quickly develops a hunger for the headmaster's wife, mrs. s. as their relationship culminates, through a sequence of elegant vignettes, we witness revelations about selfhood and self-discovery, sexual tension and power, the neuroses of adolescent girls, and diverging from convention within the tapestry of a small, conservative town. the protagonist reads as butch and/or transmasc, and their enduring struggle against gender conformity and heterosexuality is conveyed movingly and with nuance.

as expected given their background in poetry, patrick wields a total mastery over language, crafting prose that is robust and intense, and descriptions that are both concise yet richly layered. their stylistic choices in this novel also excited me; the vignettes could have almost been arranged in any order, and bear similarity to an elongated prose poem.

https://lesbrary.com/mrs-s-by-k-patrick/

Every so often I read a novel that just has the perfect summer energy about it—and even though I read a review copy of Mrs. S by K. Patrick (Europa Editions, 2023) in the spring, I was thinking of summer the entire time. Perfect for fans of novelists like Emma Cline, Mona Awad, or Leon Craig, Mrs. S is an unforgettable novel.

This novel is the kind of fascinating, character-driven historical fiction I’m drawn to. Set at an English boarding school sometime in the second half of the twentieth century (the timeline isn’t clear), an unnamed narrator arrives under the position of matron at the school. As butch lesbian from Australia, our narrator feels like an outsider in more ways than one. That is, until she meets Mrs. S, the headmaster’s alluring and captivating wife. At first, Mrs. S seems to be the narrator’s opposite in many ways—primarily through her self-assuredness and her carefully performed femininity—but as the summer wears on and the two women grow closer together, the narrator comes to realize that the two have far more in common than she thinks.

A lesbian affair conducted in secret at a British boarding school? There is no novel I would rather read. Plus, a butch lesbian protagonist is a refreshing perspective. I read Mrs. S in one sitting, and it was exactly the kind of fraught, erotic, fever dream novel I hoped it would be. I loved the narrator’s insular personality and her struggles with her queerness were issues I could both sympathize and identify with. Although this novel is framed as the narrative of an affair, it is really more about the narrator and her thoughts, feelings, and journey to come to terms with who she is—a journey that isn’t close to complete by the novel’s end.

The narrator’s relationship with Mrs. S has the kind of chaotic, fated, anxiety-inducing intensity that I hoped for. Mrs. S has an untouchable, unknowable air about her that always keeps the narrator (and us) on the outside, even when she appears to let us in. Nevertheless, we fall in love(?) with her alongside the narrator, and the second half of the novel seems to hurtle toward the end. While it seemed to take a long time to get to any kind of movement in the plot between these two characters, I now think that that’s a result of this novel really being about the protagonist’s trying to find a place in the world.

Speaking of places, the boarding school setting is so fabulous, and there’s a reason why queer authors return again and again to the idea of a girls’ boarding school, a place that supposed inculcate “proper” heterosexist codes of femininity and often ends up complicating them instead. Mrs. S’s status as the headmaster’s wife further undermines the “power” of the boarding school as an institution and I think there’s so much to be said about the usefulness of this setting for Patrick. The atmosphere of this novel—contributed to by Patrick’s sensual descriptions—is part of what kept me reading.

I highly recommend Mrs. S as your queer novel of the summer!

Please add Mrs. S to your TBR on Goodreads and follow K. Patrick on Twitter.

"Mrs. S" by K Patrick attempts mystery but ends up over-bloated and affected. The narrative struggles to engage, drowning in unnecessary complexity. Patrick's writing style lacks authenticity, leading to a book that's more frustrating than intriguing. The attempt at mystery falls flat, leaving readers with a sense of disappointment rather than satisfaction.

A masterclass in writing about nonbinary lesbianism! Mrs. S is quiet and reserved while somehow simultaneously expansive and feverish. It's one of those books that just inexplicably works. The sentences felt so sparse while also incredible poetic. The solidarity and friendship between the narrator and The Housemistress made me smile at my book. Just so so so good.

This was a pretty gripping book. Each characters were interesting and moved the plot along. The ending fell flat for me but otherwise, enjoyable.

K. Patrick is an undeniably talented prose stylist, but this would have worked much better as a novella than an overwrought and overstuffed 240-page novel. Our unnamed narrator is a 20-ish Australian woman, newly employed as the matron at a private English boarding school for girls, where she falls for Mrs. S, the prim and posh wife of the headmaster. Lush Sapphic eroticism ensues.

I picked up this book because of the storyline, but I had an incredibly hard time reading it. I could not stay focused on the plot because of the narrative structure, which was just not in a style I enjoy reading. I'm bummed! I really expected to love it, but that kind of... stream of consciousness, no quotation marks writing style really just turns me off. :(

A very slow-burn, no plot kind of story. These types of books are not usually my favorite, but the atmosphere of this book was so intriguing. The writing is stunning and poetic.

The unspecified time-period added to the vibes of the book in a great way. The reader has no clue where we are in the timeline of gender identity or information. We are secluded in the stage of a boarding school, keeping the reader fully immersed in the main character's plight.

Some execution was wordy and the prose felt more like it was trying to prove K. Patrick was a great writer and less like the voice of the main character. It could have been a much shorter novel had the author held back some of the superfluous language.

A wonderful hazy coming of age novel set at an all girl boarding school.

Our narrator falls for the older wife of the headmaster of the school she’s employed.

Mrs. S details the moments of obsession, lust, love , and gender perfectly.

The prose is beautiful and poignant, leaving the readers floating with each sentence.

Definitely recommend this one.

Thank you to Europa and NetGalley for this digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

I earnestly seek out books for their beautiful language, for a startling new way of evoking senses and for learning (as a writer) on how to use language to look at ordinary details! I love the writing of this book, such strong palpable sense of yearning! I would recommend this one!!

Such amazing prose, though a bit slow in pace for my current tastes. Also a bit too heartbreaking, but that's just my current mood, and not a fault of the book.

I loved the exploration of gender and gender presentation and sexuality here.

An exploration of not only one's sexuality but also how someone handles attraction and desire. The narrator attends a bordering school with a cult-like following of its predecessors. When the main character meets the headmaster's wife, a complicated relationship bends the idea of femininity and love. While only less than 200 pages, K. Patrick can perfectly portray the obsession one feels when love (or what we think is love) is involved.

this book was gorgeous but slow for me, also thought the dialogue was structured confusingly and it took me a sec to get the hang of (maybe just an arc thing). it took me a long time to finish this one but i'm glad i stuck it out. a good & sensual slow burn, 90's dark academia sapphic romance. a vibe!

thanks netgalley & europa for the arc that took me a billion years to finish <3

Thank you to NetGalley and Europa Editions for allowing me to read this ARC!

Content Warning: violence, misogyny, homophobia.

At a remote English boarding school, where propriety is an enforced rule, a new woman has taken up the role of "Matron" -- and most importantly, she's a butch lesbian. Used to being an outsider looking in, but slightly taken aback by the way her appearance and "strangeness" is greeted by hostility, she grows restless in her role, concerned about her future, and extremely self-conscious. But then, she meets Mrs. S, the headmaster's wife. Mrs. S is everything the Matron is not: comfortable in her dominance and authority, and very feminine. Captivated by Mrs. S, the Matron quickly finds herself falling into an infatuation, one that will deeply change the lives of everyone around them.

Although it has taken me far, far too long to put up this review, please don't take it as a sign that I disliked this book. In fact, I think it's one of the most beautiful, arresting novels I've had the pleasure of reading this year, and there's quite a lot of stiff competition (like Lucky Red, for example, another ARC I just reviewed). Patrick's writing style is totally and completely unique: none of the characters are ever named, aside from the dauntingly gorgeous and commanding Mrs. S, and although at first you might struggle to get into the flow of Patrick's style, please do yourself a favor and do not put this down.

This is a perfect representation of being "other." The Matron, our main character and narrator, has struggled with this throughout her life, connected always to her lesbianism and butch appearance. Her relationship with her parents is extremely fraught; she comes to the English countryside, and expects her loneliness to be even more solidified, but is surprised to find that she isn't the only lesbian there. This also makes a great example of the saying "we are everywhere" -- that no matter where you go, or what people you meet, you will always find another person who is on the LGBT spectrum. For me, Patrick flawlessly and easily captures what it is like to be an outsider, especially as a woman. The sensation that you don't fit in, that all the other girls are connected somehow, and that you will forever be standing just outside of their circle.

The Matron's relationship with Mrs. S is the primary focus, but there are so many elements at play here, and Patrick handles it masterfully. The ruminations on identity are spot-on, and all of it feels like lived, authentic experience (and I assume much of it is). As their relationship develops, you feel just as the Matron does, confused and baffle and in love and wondering what kind of game Mrs. S is playing -- or if it's even a game at all.

Highly, highly recommended!

This was very slow for the first half, i kept wanting to DNF because I went into with such high hopes but was so bored. Thankfully i stuck to it, it picked up and broke my heart in the end. I want better for our main character. 3 stars because it took too long to pick up and I hated how there was no punctuation. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

there was so many aspects that makes this book the perfect read, there's a bit of dark academia and queer rep, as well as a writing style that catches your attention in a way that makes you curious on what happens next. the streamof consciousness writing style has always been my favorite and this one didn't disappoint. the only thing that had me struggling to keep up with the story was the no quotation marks. other than that one detail, i loved this read! it was short, blunt, queer and full of what could be seen as mundane moments. definitely a great read to end this year's pride month with.