Blank Canvas

A superb debut … Witty, assured … Energisingly original … Murray displays keen narrative instincts and a perfect ear for prose * Guardian *Blank Canvas is razor-edged and emotionally rich, an unflinching portrait of identity and loneliness. Grace Murray’s prose navigates the desperation of loneliness and selfhood with exquisite depth, rendering even the quietest moments astonishing and haunting * Lucy Rose, author of The Lamb *Striking … The slender plot is a slow burn of inevitable doom…First love, with its losses, pains and joys, is tenderly painted * Financial Times *Fantastically engaging, the kind of interior voice that ensnares you … Brilliantly and satisfyingly off-key and absurd, with a vein of tragedy running through it, it’s the art college campus novel I’ve always wanted. Grace is such an astute observer of people (especially artists) and a sharp, bright and hilarious writer. I can’t wait to see what she goes on to write next. She’s one of those writers who you can devote yourself to. I’m along for the ride of her whole career * Claire Kohda, author of Woman, Eating *A touchingly tender coming-of-age tale that feels nuanced and real … It’s safe to say we have a literary star in the making * Marie Claire, Best New Books in February 2026, Editor’s Pick *Slick with spite, desire and intrigue, this is an exceptional debut. Charlotte is audacious and addictive. You’ll race through it, breath held, skin prickling * Celia Silvani, author of Baby Teeth *The sharpest, meanest of prose in the best possible way. An outstanding debut from author to watch * Heather Darwent, author of The Things We Do To Our Friends *There is plenty to enjoy in this punchy read, sprinkled with dry wit … Her raw talent is certainly there, particularly her ability to enter an unfamiliar mind and make it familiar. It is a joy to watch Charlotte transform under Katarina’s careful attention * The Times *One of the best debuts I’ve read this year … I read the whole thing in one sitting, so enmeshed in Charlotte’s life and lies that I simply couldn’t leave her. A character eliciting the level of frustration and sympathy that Charlotte does in a reader is a mark of truly impressive writing. The middle act, set in Italy, floored me. Murray’s writing moves between a New York campus, a terraced house in Lichfield and a workaway trip in Italy with the ease of a writer unencumbered – each setting, each relationship, and each conversation felt real, as if they were being recounted to the reader from memory. Grace Murray is a writer to watch * Jodie Matthews, author of Meet Me At The Surface *Witty, current … The novel doesn’t shy away from questioning how far the bounds of familial love and loyalty can go, and this is where it really shines * Irish Times *

Grace Murray was born in 2003 and grew up in Norfolk. She read English Literature at Edinburgh University, where she found time to write between her studies and two part-time jobs.

She features in the Sunday Times Young Power List 2026, and her short fiction has been published in The London Magazine.

Blank Canvas was written over the course of a year as part of WriteNow, Penguin Random House’s flagship mentorship scheme for emerging talent. Grace Murray won one of nine places on the scheme on the exceptional strength of her writing, selected from a pool of over 1,300 applicants.

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