Blank Canvas

One of the best debuts I’ve read this year ... I read the whole thing in one sitting, so enmeshed in Charlotte’s life and lies that I simply couldn’t leave her. A character eliciting the level of frustration and sympathy that Charlotte does in a reader is a mark of truly impressive writing. The middle act, set in Italy, floored me. Murray’s writing moves between a New York campus, a terraced house in Lichfield and a workaway trip in Italy with the ease of a writer unencumbered – each setting, each relationship, and each conversation felt real, as if they were being recounted to the reader from memory. Grace Murray is a writer to watch

Jodie Matthews, author of Meet Me At The Surface

Slick with spite, desire and intrigue, this is an exceptional debut. Charlotte is audacious and addictive. You'll race through it, breath held, skin prickling

Celia Silvani, author of Baby Teeth

A campus novel painted with the most startling, profound hues. A portrait of queer love, loneliness and dark lies, Blank Canvas has a sharp, striking wit that cuts at the heart of what it means to be human ... An absolute triumph of a novel

Rupert Dastur, author of Cloudless

Fantastically engaging, the kind of interior voice that ensnares you … Brilliantly and satisfyingly off-key and absurd, with a vein of tragedy running through it, it’s the art college campus novel I’ve always wanted. Grace is such an astute observer of people (especially artists) and a sharp, bright and hilarious writer. I can’t wait to see what she goes on to write next. She’s one of those writers who you can devote yourself to. I’m along for the ride of her whole career

Claire Kohda, author of Woman, Eating

The sharpest, meanest of prose in the best possible way. An outstanding debut from author to watch

Heather Darwent, author of The Things We Do To Our Friends

Blank Canvas is a perceptive, witty and subversive exploration of honesty, relationships and identity. Grace Murray writes with such clarity and boldness achieving a refreshing, nuanced take on the campus novel

Ela Lee, author of Jaded

I loved this brilliant debut, compelled by the spiky interiority of Charlotte, and her minute, cold observations of the world she disdains yet longs to join. This novel is astute and absorbing, whether in upstate New York, a riverbank in Italy, or Lichfield, at all times asking and answering the question: how far would you go to stop being lonely? Comic and acerbic, with moments of real warmth and sorrow, we are drawn into Charlotte's warped, misanthropic worldview and the tentative relationships she forms, and are eager to stay. I was enthralled; Grace Murray is one to watch

Emma van Straaten, author of This Immaculate Body

Blank Canvas is razor-edged and emotionally rich, an unflinching portrait of identity and loneliness. Grace Murray’s prose navigates the desperation of loneliness and selfhood with exquisite depth, rendering even the quietest moments astonishing and haunting

Lucy Rose, author of The Lamb

A study in self-sabotage and yearning that crackles until it erupts, Blank Canvas follows a listless art student who constructs herself from lies. With prose alive to every sting and silence, Grace Murray exposes the longing beneath the performance, and the cost of connection built on deceit. A debut that lingers – acidic, funny, and painfully astute

Seth Insua, author of Human, Animal

A superb debut ... Witty, assured ... Energisingly original ... Murray displays keen narrative instincts and a perfect ear for prose

Guardian

Striking ... The slender plot is a slow burn of inevitable doom...First love, with its losses, pains and joys, is tenderly painted

Financial Times

Sensual, sharp, and utterly compelling

A Life in Books

There is plenty to enjoy in this punchy read, sprinkled with dry wit ... Her raw talent is certainly there, particularly her ability to enter an unfamiliar mind and make it familiar. It is a joy to watch Charlotte transform under Katarina’s careful attention

The Times

Perfectly measured and plotted, and written with a flair as unstoppable as its protagonist, the propulsive Blank Canvas offers us an incredible exploration of a human mind, and an unlikable female character to, paradoxically, fall in love with. Grace Murray is a star author in the making

Buzz Mag

Worth adding to your to-be-read pile ... Audacious and gripping ... Impressive ... That balance between building tension, comedic elements, and a gimlet-eyed look at identity creates a gripping novel that once started has to be committed to. I hope Blank Canvas is the first of many such books and will be waiting keenly for Murray’s next novel

The Indiependent

Witty, current ... The novel doesn’t shy away from questioning how far the bounds of familial love and loyalty can go, and this is where it really shines

Irish Times

The novel unfolds like an intimate voyage through Charlotte’s mind and the meanings she assigns to the world around her ... What stood out most to me was the novel’s careful character-building: each figure feels deeply human, marked by ambiguity, unlikeability, tenderness, and contradiction

The Student News

A touchingly tender coming-of-age tale that feels nuanced and real ... It's safe to say we have a literary star in the making

Marie Claire, Best New Books in February 2026, Editor's Pick

Grace Murray writes with restraint and psychological acuity, refusing easy judgement while exposing the fragile ethics of self-invention. Blank Canvas is a study of loneliness and longing, of how identity can be shaped as much by omission as confession

The Voice

It's very good

Harriet Tyce

Like Sally Rooney before her, Grace Murray's debut reveals the promise of a wunderkind – the author was only 22 when she wrote the book. Her relative inexperience in life doesn't matter here - it is a campus novel, a story of love, a detailed examination of a young woman who is doing what she can to survive, when her mental health is doing its best to undo her ... Murray demonstrates a maturity beyond her years in exerting control over her narrative by never rushing the story. There are no spare words, or asides, or diversions away from the main story - everything has its place and its purpose ... [A] very impressive first novel, well-written and evenly paced

Tuam Herald