Why We Chose Imaginary Forces by Georgia Moorhouse for Fresh Ink, December 2026
“With shades of Patricia Highsmith, Imaginary Forces is a cut above. With a chilling story and an unforgettable voice and characters, this is an extraordinarily accomplished debut.”
- Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things
“A novel as seductive and addictive as the friendship it depicts... In Robin, Moorhouse has created an utterly singular voice, full of humour, sadness and wit.”
- Abigail Dean, author of Girl A
Some books announce themselves through their premise; others through a character you simply cannot look away from. Imaginary Forces by Georgia Moorhouse does both. At its centre is Robin: unreliable, unstable, funny and completely devoted to his oldest friend, Henry, a narrator whose version of events becomes increasingly difficult to separate from the truth.
For Fresh Ink, we were immediately drawn to the novel's intoxicating combination of friendship, obsession, desire and mystery. When Henry inherits his late mother's antiquarian bookshop, the two friends find themselves building a life together among rare books and the faded elegance of London. But grief takes Henry somewhere unexpected, leading him towards the theory of multiple universes and a scientist called Yolanda who might be able to help him prove that other possibilities exist.
What follows is a wonderfully complicated portrait of love in all its most difficult forms. Robin and Yolanda are united by their feelings for Henry, even as they can barely tolerate one another, while Henry's fascination with parallel universes develops into something increasingly dangerous. The closer we get to these characters, the harder it becomes to distinguish devotion from possession, friendship from dependency, and love from obsession.
What makes Imaginary Forces particularly memorable is its voice. Robin is an extraordinary narrator: charming one moment, infuriating the next, and always just slightly beyond our grasp. Through him, Georgia Moorhouse creates a story that is darkly funny, unsettling and deeply human, while constantly asking us how much we can trust the stories people tell themselves.
There is also something wonderfully evocative about its world. The theatres, rare bookshops and elegant corners of London give the novel a timeless quality, while its exploration of conspiracy, science, self-deception and the desire to believe in something beyond our own reality gives it a distinctly contemporary edge.
Shortlisted for the Women's Prize Discoveries Award, Imaginary Forces is an exceptionally assured debut. It is clever without losing its emotional heart, gripping without sacrificing its literary ambition, and populated by characters who are so vividly flawed that they feel impossible to forget.
For our final Fresh Ink choice of 2026, it felt like a fitting discovery: a book about the stories we create, the people we become obsessed with, and the sometimes dangerous distance between what we want to believe and what is actually true.
A Fresh Ink exclusive: Imaginary Forces officially publishes in January 2027, but Fresh Ink members will receive our exclusive signed & numbered edition one month early, in December 2026, giving our members the chance to discover Georgia Moorhouse's debut before its official publication.
About Fresh Ink
Fresh Ink is our membership for readers who love discovering tomorrow's bestselling authors before everyone else. Each month, we carefully select an exceptional debut novel and present it as a beautifully produced, signed and numbered limited edition, created exclusively for our members.
But Fresh Ink is about more than collecting beautiful books. It's about being there at the very beginning of an author's journey, discovering a remarkable new voice before they become widely known, and building a collection of books that marks the writers you discovered first.
As a Fresh Ink Member, You'll Receive:
📚 An exclusive signed & numbered first edition every month, produced especially for members.
📚 15% off all purchases from Goldsboro Books while your membership is active.
📚 Exclusive member content, including author interviews, behind-the-scenes features and insights into each month's selection.
📚 The chance to discover remarkable new writers first, before they break into the mainstream.
📚 Membership in a community of passionate readers who love discovering, collecting and championing exceptional debut fiction.
Join Fresh Ink today and discover the authors everyone will be talking about tomorrow.
