We Do What We Do in the Dark

Reviews

“Hart has written a realistic world where women do all the talking, to each other, and rarely about the men in their lives.... Hart’s novel does something exceptional that few pieces of fiction have done successfully: She presents the older married professor as not only a complicated figure worthy of desire and suspicion, but makes her a woman too.... We Do What We Do in the Dark has flashes of Sally Rooney’s Conversations With Friends, or Halle Butler’s The New Me. Sometimes it’s erotic, sometimes it’s devastating. Maybe this is what the new erotic thriller has morphed into in literature.... [T]he writing always crackles, written by someone who clearly knows what it’s like to desire another woman in ways you just barely understand." –New York Times

“Hart debuts with a transfixing queer coming-of-age novel about a woman’s affair with a much older professor….. Mallory’s intense interiority and self-consciousness will remind readers of Sally Rooney’s work, and Hart’s prose is delicate and piercing. This is auspicious and breathtaking.” – Publishers Weekly *STARRED review*

“Michelle Hart’s first novel is a haunting study of solitude and connection, moving and memorable.”
– Meg Wolitzer, author of The Female Persuasion and The Interestings

“Seductive and lyrical with poetic detail, this is an unforgettable account of a forbidden romance made extraordinary by Hart's precision and lyrical touch. A compulsive read that satisfies and haunts.”
– Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of Patsy and Here Comes the Sun

“Michelle Hart’s coming-of-age novel skillfully depicts forbidden romance and the shame it can foster.” –Time

“An electric debut.” – Marie Claire

"It is a rare debut that exhibits the authority of voice and vision that Michelle Hart gives us in We Do What We Do In The Dark."
– Melissa Febos, author of Girlhood
 
“A gorgeous storyteller, Hart is gifted with a poet’s precision, blending image and idea. Sensual and wise, this novel channels the melancholic exhilaration of dangerous love.”
– Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage
 
“A beautiful book so filled with sharp longing and perfectly phrased vulnerability that I read it in a reverent hush.”
– Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby
 
“Reading this brilliant book is like holding a fierce yet trembling bird in your cupped hand, every page causes a tremble in your heart. You can’t put it down.”
– Akhil Sharma, author of Family Life Expand reviews