Bitter Melon

Liv Little pulls you into a world where the characters feel like everyone you’ve ever known, loved and learned. Bitter Melon is deftly written, full of heart and human nature’s complexities – Candice Carty-Williams
I’m not ashamed to say that this tender and beautiful book made me sob more than once – Sarah Shaffi * Red *
A moving read about identity, fatherhood and family reconciliation – Jo Finney * Good Housekeeping *
Bitter Melon is an elegant, surprising and profoundly moving novel which wraps together themes of love, grief and rebirth against the lush, fiery setting of modern Jamaica. Jalissa and Delroy’s roadtrip is as much about finding their way back to each other as it is about finding themselves. The realism of their love - the things that are said and left unsaid between a father and daughter who desperately want to know each other - is deeply affecting. A book that will break you apart, and make you whole again – Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff
Brilliant and moving and truly so wonderful. I laughed and cried, then I called my dad. It’s tender and intimate. Gorgeous and very lovable. Liv writes with such honesty, depth and love. She is a true wonder with words. It also made me want to book a flight back to Jamaica immediately! – Lena de Casparis, ELLE
Liv Little captures human experience with such a delicacy and beauty that it will break and heal your heart all at the same time. In Bitter Melon she captures grief and love with the same tender, unflinching hand. Funny, heartbreaking and unrelentingly alive, this book about what it means to get to know someone right before you lose them will change your life – Scarlett Curtis
A beautiful, tender story about the relationship between a father and daughter, the meaning of home, and finding your way back to yourself. Little captures Jamaica, forever home to me, so beautifully. Thank you for taking me there – Shani Akilah
So moving and unguarded and beautiful. I didn’t want to miss a word – Lucy Boynton
I loved this book! It’s contemporary, questioning, relatable and deeply moving. I know this will touch so many readers. I couldn’t put it down – Emma-Louise Boynton
A gorgeous depiction of a father-daughter relationship, teeming with love, grief and tenderness, this is an assured sophomore effort from Liv Little, a brightly burning beacon of the future of British literature – Nikesh Shukla

Liv Little is an incredible humanist, and it’s in the smallest details of her characters that you feel it. I felt this book deep in my belly. Against the vivid landscape of Jamaica, Bitter Melon takes us into all the crunchy, complicated places of family and relationship, the beauty and the pain, the closeness and the disconnect. I smiled, I cried, and I was deeply, deeply touched

Liv is a writer of Jamaican and Guyanese descent via South London. She tells stories with heart about the people and places that matter to her. Her work spans journalism, audio, TV, and curatorial projects.

Her debut novel, Rosewater, was shortlisted for the 2024 Nota Bene Prize and longlisted for the 2024 Polari Prize. At 21, Liv founded the award-winning media company gal-dem. She currently has several screenwriting projects in development.

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