ARC review: Lit by Anna Woods

Lit by Anna Woods was a slow burn for me and I almost put it aside several times in the first half. I found the way Wood hints at past happenings without offering explanation until late in the novel frustrating, but I guess it also kept me reading. Ultimately though I was kinda disappointed that the supposedly dire event that set things off here felt a little anticlimactic. I was also disappointed in the ending, but purely from a social justice or ‘what’s right’ perspective.

About this book

Gin is an architect on the brink. LIT, the Auckland-based practice she shares with her girlfriend, Clary, has been precarious since their third partner - Clary's ex, Billy -disappeared, presumed dead.

Now, several years later, LIT's financial problems and Gin's personal debts are snowballing. Clary - emotionally fragile since the disappearance - is growing increasingly remote and elusive. When Gin begins to be haunted by glimpses of Billy, she blames stress and guilt. But could he be back, threatening to expose the past?

Trapped in a web of secrecy and betrayal, Gin's downward spiral gathers force as she begins to suspect her paranoia hides an even more shocking truth - one that will send her whole life up in flames.

My thoughts

Virginia (Gin) is our narrator. We learn she’s besotted with her girlfriend Clary who she believes is too good for her, and paranoid about Clary’s own obsession with previous boyfriend, Billy. In fact she describes herself as a ‘consolation prize’. The threesome met at University, with Clary and Billy from wealthy families…and different values to Gin at times. The threesome ran LIT (an architecture firm) until Billy’s disappearance three years earlier.

When I told you I felt a lack, it was in contrast to people like Clary. Like Billy. Because they were both more than enough. Once we became friends, I borrowed and stole from them. Nothing as mundane as possessions, something more essential. A tarnished mirror imperfectly reflecting their glory. p 114

Gin is initially vague about what happened when talking about Billy so it takes some time to confirm whether he’s dead (and why they think that) or just missing. When Clary and a friend think they’ve caught sight of him Gin’s nervous that past secrets will come to light. We eventually learn what they are, relating to shoddy work and underhand dealings. Clary fell apart after Billy disappeared and she seems to start unraveling at the sight of him here. Gin’s dismayed at being shut out by her girlfriend, and the timing sucks because the firm is in financial trouble but on the brink of winning a new big project.

This is written in first person but Gin dips into second person prose, as if she’s confiding in us. It worked and I became invested. She also however frustrated the hell out of me, making bad decision after bad decision.

Woods doesn’t use inverted commas / quotation marks throughout the novel so sometimes I wasn’t sure if Gin was thinking something or it was dialogue. It didn’t bother me as such but required some extra concentration at times. There’s also something poetic, or exceptionally eloquent about her writing and I found myself bookmarking phrase after phrase.

I also liked the way Woods focuses so much of this around LIT, the firm… so much so, it almost felt like a character in itself.

Woods takes this in an interesting direction which I didn’t see coming. I did have some suspicions but the actions late in the book and the twists were quite shocking. People may enjoy it more for that reason but the note I made (on my notebook next to the bathtub, where I read) when finishing the book are thus:

That ending WTF?!

Lit by Anna Woods will be published in Australia by Echo in June 2026.

I received an early copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.