Having Spent Life Seeking

By (author) Tempest, Kae
Description:

*Dua Lipa''s Service95 Book Club Pick for June 2026*

''Trust me, you will love these characters'' DUA LIPA
''Amazing, it really moved me'' SHON FAYE
''If books can still change the world, this one most likely will'' COLUM MCCANN

Rothko Taylor has washed up with the tide, back in their hometown, Edgecliff. Fifteen years since they left it behind.

The past is accelerating towards them: the skateboard kids on the high street that remind them of their teenage years, the splintered benches looking out to sea, where their mum Meg clutched her cans. The nice bit of town, where their dad Ezra tried and failed to build a happy home. And Dionne''s block. Beautiful, extraordinary Dionne, the only person who had ever looked at them and seen what was there.

Back then, overwhelmed and full of fear, they sank beneath the surface into chaos. But they made it out alive. And this time, Rothko is determined that things will be different.

''A scorching story of love, change, homecoming and forgiveness'' DAWN FRENCH

''A wonderful, moving and enlightening state-of-Britain novel'' IRVINE WELSH

''A master-craftsman of deep feeling and linguistic intimacy'' MAX PORTER

''Kae Tempest at his finest'' ANTHONY SHAPLAND

''Unboundedly beautiful'' MICHAEL PEDERSEN

Review quote:
Thrilling... With Kae’s trademark tenderness and empathy, his love for these characters shines through the pages. Trust me, you will love them, too
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A master-craftsman of deep feeling and linguistic intimacy
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A wonderful, moving and enlightening state-of-Britain novel stuffed with memorable characters, depicting an individual’s struggle for self-realization in a society punitive to those who refuse to stand in its prescribed boxes
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Amazing, it really moved me... Not something I''ve encountered in British literary fiction before
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Unboundedly beautiful. Having Spent Life Seeking rings the heart like a bell
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Having Spent Life Seeking is Kae at his finest, his uncanny skill of focussing on detail, noticing and observing ordinariness – all while allowing slippery truths to surface in this gentle, volatile book
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A hallelujah of a book. A scorching story of love, change, homecoming and forgiveness. Kae at his beautiful, brilliant, best
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Kae Tempest brings into the literary realm that which others choose to leave outside. This is a remarkable act of literary bravery. If books can still change the world, this one most likely will. Narrative-driven, stuffed with soul, brimming with brokenness, rife with repair, this is a book for our splintered times. In Tempest''s hands, redemption travels faster than the speed of light
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A pure beautiful love story... Reverberates through the reader''s heart
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Agile shifts in perspective allow Tempest to extend his 360-compassion as he brings marginalised lives into sharp focus; he writes brilliantly about addiction and desire, too. Tough and lyrical, it’s a tale of survival and becoming that earns the grace of its moving conclusion
Biographical note:
KAE TEMPEST has been putting words together since he was a teenager. He has published plays, poetry collections, non-fiction, a Sunday Times-bestselling novel and has released six studio albums. In 2013 Tempest won the Ted Hughes Award, making him the youngest ever poet to receive it. He was named a Next Generation Poet in 2014, a once-in-a-decade honour, and in the same year he received the first of t