Tonight’s Candid Book Club event at Waterstones Piccadilly proved why debut novels deserve serious literary attention. Ela Lee’s “Jaded” sparked one of the most intense discussions I’ve witnessed about race, power, and identity in contemporary fiction.
Lee, a British-Korean-Turkish writer who left City law during the pandemic to write her first novel, brought authentic perspective to themes I constantly explore in my own work — the psychology behind polished professional surfaces and what happens when they crack under pressure.
“Jaded” follows a successful young woman whose life transforms after workplace sexual assault. Lee’s unflinching examination of how trauma intersects with professional ambition and racial identity created uncomfortable but necessary conversation among the packed audience.
What struck me most was Lee’s discussion about writing authentic multicultural experience without reducing characters to their trauma. Her approach to representing complex identity formation while maintaining narrative momentum offered valuable insights for my own experimental work.
The Candid Book Club’s format — sitting “in the round” for open dialogue — allowed for genuine exchange about consent, workplace dynamics, and the courage required to transform personal experience into universal fiction.
Lee’s journey from law to literature during lockdown resonated with my own career transition from marketing to writing. Sometimes creative authenticity requires abandoning professional safety for uncertain artistic territory.
Written from London, where brave voices challenge comfortable assumptions about identity and power.
— Writer Julia Zolotova
