Some loves arrive at the wrong time. Some never really leave.

Jacob Ellison has always known the life expected of him. School. Football. A girlfriend. A future that makes sense.

Then Tom Carter arrives.

Young, charismatic and newly appointed at Jacob’s school, Tom should be nothing more than a teacher. But as an unexpected connection develops between them, Jacob begins to question everything he thought he understood about himself - and Tom is forced to confront feelings he knows he cannot allow.

What begins almost imperceptibly becomes impossible to ignore.

Set against the honey-coloured streets and hills of Bath, Where We Lay is a slow-burning story of first love, longing and the devastating consequences of wanting someone you shouldn’t.

But this is more than a forbidden love story. It is a novel about identity and shame; about the lives we construct because they are easier than the truth; and about the people who see us before we are ready to see ourselves.

Tender, intimate and emotionally charged, Where We Lay explores the space between desire and restraint, love and responsibility, and the choices that can shape the rest of our lives.

For readers drawn to the emotional intensity and intimacy of Call Me by Your Name and Lie With Me.