Summary
A provocative novel about intimacy, love, and consent - Open Wide will quite literally get under your skin.
“By the time we’d said ‘I love you’ and kissed goodnight and turned out the light, thoughts of whether to resist had left my mind. I had climbed inside his body, and now he was stirring.”
Olive is desperate to get close to Theo - really, really close. Despite being a radio host, she’s always struggled to connect with people. And now she’s in her thirties, single…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781787305021 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1787305023 |
| Author: | Jessica Gross |
| Publisher: | Vintage Publishing |
| Imprint: | Harvill Secker |
| Format: | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages: | 272 |
| Release Date: | 11 November 2025 |
| Weight: | 379g |
| Dimensions: | 225mm x 145mm x 25mm |
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What They're Saying
Critics Review
I enjoy a bit of weird girl fiction …. I was absolutely obsessed with this book…It’s so unique, and unpacks themes of intimacy, consent and love in such an interesting way * Mirror *
I lost count of the emotions that gripped me while reading Open Wide. No one writes harrowing, wild, authentic, bordering-on-criminal obsession (love?) like Jessica Gross – Marie-Helene Bertino, author of Beautyland
Open Wide grabs you by the throat and refuses to let go—a deliciously unnerving exploration of love’s darkest extremes. Gross’s smartly comedic novel dissects our deepest fears about intimacy and belonging with unflinching precision. This is psychological horror at its most inventive—a startling, original work that will leave you questioning the boundaries we draw around those we love – Chelsea Bieker, author of Madowman and Godshot
A wild ride, smart, unsettling, sexy and hilarious. The impossible development at the heart of the narrative is captivating, as is Olive herself - and while I thought of Kafka and Gogol as I read, the truth is that this novel is a true, electrifying original – Clare Beams, author of The Garden and The Illness Lesson
Sexy and smart, Open Wide is a modern fairy tale about obsessive love. Jessica Gross is a storyteller of extraordinary ability. The end is stunning – Luis Jaramillo, author of The Witches of El Paso
Strange, ominous and darkly alluring, Open Wide teases the line between intimacy and possession – and what it really means to have “all” of someone. Absolutely gripping. I couldn’t put it down – Peng Shepherd, author of The Cartographers
Bad boundaries have never been so uncomfortably delicious, and Jessica Gross goes all in. This clever, provocative tale of the dream and horror of closeness has guts - a lot of them. Climb inside! – Megan Milks
Raising interesting questions about boundaries within relationships the novel literalizes the romantic trope of becoming one with your partner, while ingeniously satirizing female neediness…A rom-com inside a body horror story, or a philosophical examination of love as obsession * Kirkus Reviews *
About The Author
Jessica Gross
Jessica Gross is the author of the novels Hysteria and Open Wide, which is her UK debut. Hysteria has been optioned for TV development, and Open Wide for film development. Gross’s non-fiction has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Lilith, and The Los Angeles Review of Books, among other places. She has taught writing at The New School and Texas Tech University and currently lives in West Texas.
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