Audition

Kitamura’s great talent is describing the minutiae of human connections, how in the course of seconds an interaction can provoke sympathy, then irritation, followed by confusion. She can turn a single exchange into a symphony of implications * The Times *
Kitamura is unparalleled . . . Always engaging and thought-provoking . . . Audition is a lightning bolt of a novel * Financial Times *
Katie Kitamura’s latest novel, Audition, is slick, sharp, strange and singular. I love her work; she’s a writer who can conjure intrigue from the scantest detail, and you’ll gulp this novel down in one in-breath -- Samantha Harvey, Booker Prize-winning author of ORBITAL * Guardian, *Summer Reads of 2025* *
Kitamura's novels are short, sharp and deadly. I’m not sure there’s anyone better writing in America today -- Alex Preston * Observer *
A literary performance of true uncanniness: one that, in a very real sense, takes on life * Guardian *
Audition has powerful things to say about our present destabilised society . . . This superb, thoughtful novel resonated long after finishing * Independent *
A quiet novel about the ways we hide our true selves from others – and ourselves -- Barack Obama
Kitamura is always worth reading * Evening Standard *
Kitamura is totally in control of her prodigious gifts. Her confluence of style and ruthless intelligence is so distinctive that it feels almost like its own genre. Whether she remains in the terrain she has established or not, we are lucky to read her * New Statesman *
A daring, riddling novel . . . A literary hall of mirrors that explores the deepest questions about performance, identity and how we relate to each other * Guardian, *Summer Reads of 2025* *