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Prairie Oyster
Not yet published
Expected 26 Feb 26'Sophie out-jars The Bell Jar with this dark and gleaming masterpiece' EILEEN MYLES
Everything falls into she will get sober, she will eat well, she will start sleeping properly, she will work hard, she will resurrect her career, she will make The Lakes, she will charm Mitch, she will be somebody
Pearl is a thirty-something filmmaker balanced precariously on the edge of an addiction-fueled breakdown. But when she is invited to interview her idol and crush, lesbian cult filmmaker Mitch Meyer, her stilted life restarts.
Buoyed and seduced by Mitch's interest in her and her work, Pearl swaps alcoholism for romantic obsession, and London for a summer in New York with Mitch. All the while she is haunted by a project she has been toying with for a film about Veronica Lake, a 1940s film star who drank herself into obscurity.
Everything falls into she will get sober, she will eat well, she will start sleeping properly, she will work hard, she will resurrect her career, she will make The Lakes, she will charm Mitch, she will be somebody
Pearl is a thirty-something filmmaker balanced precariously on the edge of an addiction-fueled breakdown. But when she is invited to interview her idol and crush, lesbian cult filmmaker Mitch Meyer, her stilted life restarts.
Buoyed and seduced by Mitch's interest in her and her work, Pearl swaps alcoholism for romantic obsession, and London for a summer in New York with Mitch. All the while she is haunted by a project she has been toying with for a film about Veronica Lake, a 1940s film star who drank herself into obscurity.
- GenresLGBT
Kindle Edition
Expected publication February 26, 2026
133 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 8, 2026
Prairie Oyster is intense, messy, and gripping. It doesn’t try to tidy up addiction or make Pearl easier to root for. She makes bad choices, pushes people away, and spirals in ways that are often frustrating to watch, but the writing keeps you close to her experience, making it hard to disengage.
The novel plays with obsession, idolisation, and the thin line between creative drive and self-destruction. It won’t be a book for everyone, but if you’re drawn to character-led stories that are uncomfortable, emotionally raw, and a bit chaotic, this feels like a strong and assured debut.
The novel plays with obsession, idolisation, and the thin line between creative drive and self-destruction. It won’t be a book for everyone, but if you’re drawn to character-led stories that are uncomfortable, emotionally raw, and a bit chaotic, this feels like a strong and assured debut.
November 10, 2025
This was absolutely incredible. Loved the narrator. The part where she texts 'fuck off' to someone trying to help her is so perfect. Love the Lana Turner monologues. Just an absolutely fantastic piece of work about sobriety, art, escape, and disappearing into the void vs trying to live life. Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.
November 30, 2025
devastating and incredibly stressful
October 29, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
What a ride!
Prairie Oyster follows Pearl, a thirty-something filmmaker who is juggling staying sober with writing a screenplay about Veronica Lake, a forgotten starlet who once defined Hollywood noir. Somewhere along the way she meets Mitch, a cult lesbian filmmaker whom she idolises, and falls hard and fast for them. She follows them to America, hoping to win their heart and to finish the script—but the path to recovery is not linear, as Pearl soon discovers, and the lines between herself and Veronica begin to blur.
This novel alarmed me. At first, I wasn’t sure I could get on its level. The narrative is intense, fast-paced and, crucially, messy—but I don’t mean any of these things in a bad way. As I settled in, I realised how necessary they were. I bemoaned Pearl’s bad decisions only because they felt so real; it terrified me how much I related to her. I know how easy it is to do the exact opposite of what is good for you, when it feels like all you know. Robinson has an urgent way of writing that pulled me in and didn’t let go.
I felt the novel did well to represent the nuances of the parasocial relationship, whether that was with Mitch or Veronica Lake. We also feel Pearl’s dread in the blackouts, and catch flashes of her trauma, beginning to piece the cycle of addiction together. There is a third person narrative voice, but we remain entirely in Pearl’s head—I would maybe have preferred first person to make her unreliability clearer, but it still works. Other parts that didn’t quite rhyme also could have been my fault over Robinson’s—there were some characters that I didn’t like or found underdeveloped, and I don’t really like dropping quotation marks, as a rule, but these were minor beside the majority of the narrative, which I did really enjoy.
I liked how Pearl’s storyline flowed directly into the screenplay: it was especially impressive how smooth these transitions were, sometimes occurring mid-paragraph. Although fleeting, Veronica’s voice was distinct from Pearl’s, and I was charmed by her movie-inflected speech. My only qualm was that I would’ve liked a little more indication of what the film looked like visually.
Ultimately, Prairie Oyster is a compelling novel that marks a strong debut for Robinson in prose.
What a ride!
Prairie Oyster follows Pearl, a thirty-something filmmaker who is juggling staying sober with writing a screenplay about Veronica Lake, a forgotten starlet who once defined Hollywood noir. Somewhere along the way she meets Mitch, a cult lesbian filmmaker whom she idolises, and falls hard and fast for them. She follows them to America, hoping to win their heart and to finish the script—but the path to recovery is not linear, as Pearl soon discovers, and the lines between herself and Veronica begin to blur.
This novel alarmed me. At first, I wasn’t sure I could get on its level. The narrative is intense, fast-paced and, crucially, messy—but I don’t mean any of these things in a bad way. As I settled in, I realised how necessary they were. I bemoaned Pearl’s bad decisions only because they felt so real; it terrified me how much I related to her. I know how easy it is to do the exact opposite of what is good for you, when it feels like all you know. Robinson has an urgent way of writing that pulled me in and didn’t let go.
I felt the novel did well to represent the nuances of the parasocial relationship, whether that was with Mitch or Veronica Lake. We also feel Pearl’s dread in the blackouts, and catch flashes of her trauma, beginning to piece the cycle of addiction together. There is a third person narrative voice, but we remain entirely in Pearl’s head—I would maybe have preferred first person to make her unreliability clearer, but it still works. Other parts that didn’t quite rhyme also could have been my fault over Robinson’s—there were some characters that I didn’t like or found underdeveloped, and I don’t really like dropping quotation marks, as a rule, but these were minor beside the majority of the narrative, which I did really enjoy.
I liked how Pearl’s storyline flowed directly into the screenplay: it was especially impressive how smooth these transitions were, sometimes occurring mid-paragraph. Although fleeting, Veronica’s voice was distinct from Pearl’s, and I was charmed by her movie-inflected speech. My only qualm was that I would’ve liked a little more indication of what the film looked like visually.
Ultimately, Prairie Oyster is a compelling novel that marks a strong debut for Robinson in prose.
November 14, 2025
Prairie Oyster is a novel about an alcoholic filmmaker who finds herself chasing two things: the cult filmmaker she has a crush on, and her idea of a film about a 1940s star, Veronica Lake. Pearl is struggling, barely turning up for her teaching job in a film studies department because she's always hungover. When Mitch Meyer takes an interest in Pearl, with their interest not only in her work but also in Pearl herself, it seems like Pearl has finally found direction, but Mitch might not be the escape Pearl needs.
This book is told through Pearl's point of view, though in the third person, to give an unflinching look at addiction. In particular, the book gives a horrible insight into blackouts from drinking, and how destructive Pearl is even when trying to be sober. Her relationship with Mitch is also horrible to watch, as you can't help but see how things are going to unfold, and what it might mean for Pearl's self-destruction. I felt like I wasn't able to engage with the Veronica Lake side of the plot as well, as that is mostly told through interview snippets between bits of Pearl's narrative, but I liked how it sat alongside Pearl's story as well as being the focus of the film she's working on, and her quest in the US to find out more about Veronica.
Prairie Oyster wasn't what I expected going into it, turning out to be a book about alcoholism as well as a story about the complex relationships between people and their idols. I feel like maybe I could've gotten more out of it—other reviews talk about its references to The Bell Jar, which I didn't notice as it's a very long time since I've read it—but I still found it to be gripping and at times excruciating.
This book is told through Pearl's point of view, though in the third person, to give an unflinching look at addiction. In particular, the book gives a horrible insight into blackouts from drinking, and how destructive Pearl is even when trying to be sober. Her relationship with Mitch is also horrible to watch, as you can't help but see how things are going to unfold, and what it might mean for Pearl's self-destruction. I felt like I wasn't able to engage with the Veronica Lake side of the plot as well, as that is mostly told through interview snippets between bits of Pearl's narrative, but I liked how it sat alongside Pearl's story as well as being the focus of the film she's working on, and her quest in the US to find out more about Veronica.
Prairie Oyster wasn't what I expected going into it, turning out to be a book about alcoholism as well as a story about the complex relationships between people and their idols. I feel like maybe I could've gotten more out of it—other reviews talk about its references to The Bell Jar, which I didn't notice as it's a very long time since I've read it—but I still found it to be gripping and at times excruciating.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Review copy from NetGalley.
It's strange to say I enjoyed this, as it's really quite stressful to read about this character relapsing in her addiction. I really liked the way Robinson wrote this. She reminds me somewhat of Melissa Broder, in that she has a heavy focus on bodily sensations and doesn't shy away from the reality of being in a body like mainstream fiction tends to. The writing is complex without feeling pretentious and suits Pearl's character perfectly.
Robinson brings together this work about addiction, fame, obsession and art very successfully. At points I wanted to shake the main character and tell her that she's simply too old to be wilfully misunderstanding the depth of her relationship with Mitch. That she's too clever to be fannying about on benders with her friends instead of doing her job, but Pearl wouldn't listen because that's the nature of addiction.
I'm sure I'll read whatever Robinson brings out next.
It's strange to say I enjoyed this, as it's really quite stressful to read about this character relapsing in her addiction. I really liked the way Robinson wrote this. She reminds me somewhat of Melissa Broder, in that she has a heavy focus on bodily sensations and doesn't shy away from the reality of being in a body like mainstream fiction tends to. The writing is complex without feeling pretentious and suits Pearl's character perfectly.
Robinson brings together this work about addiction, fame, obsession and art very successfully. At points I wanted to shake the main character and tell her that she's simply too old to be wilfully misunderstanding the depth of her relationship with Mitch. That she's too clever to be fannying about on benders with her friends instead of doing her job, but Pearl wouldn't listen because that's the nature of addiction.
I'm sure I'll read whatever Robinson brings out next.
November 25, 2025
This should have worked much better for me than it actually did as I was all there for the subject matter of a woman on the verge of a breakdown, with her alcoholism, mental health issues and intense affair - but this is written in that dry and detached style that simply doesn't work for me. It feels very 'told' so that I was at arms' length from the narrative at all times - sorry, just a stylistic mis-match with this reader.
Thanks to the publisher for an ARC via NetGalley
Thanks to the publisher for an ARC via NetGalley
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews