Description

Three Rooms

Three Rooms- In a poignant and thought-provoking narrative, Jo Hamya delves into the struggles faced by the Millennial generation in their pursuit of financial stability and independence. The novel explores the protagonist’s journey as she navigates through different living situations, highlighting the challenges of finding a place to call her own in a world where economic constraints often dictate one’s choices. Through vivid descriptions and compelling storytelling, the author sheds light on the aspirations and dilemmas of young individuals striving to carve out their path in a rapidly changing society.

The backdrop of societal unrest and political turmoil adds another layer of complexity to the protagonist’s struggles, mirroring the broader issues faced by her generation. As she grapples with the uncertainty of her future and the constant pressure to conform to societal expectations, the reader is drawn into a world where dreams collide with harsh realities. Hamya’s exploration of themes such as identity, belonging, and the pursuit of autonomy resonates with readers of all ages, offering a nuanced portrayal of the Millennial experience in contemporary society.

Through the lens of a young woman’s quest for independence and self-discovery, Three Rooms captures the zeitgeist of a generation grappling with economic instability and social upheaval. Hamya’s debut novel not only showcases her remarkable talent as a writer but also serves as a poignant reflection on the challenges and aspirations of Millennials in an increasingly uncertain world. With its compelling narrative and insightful commentary, the novel invites readers to contemplate the universal desire for a place to call home and the enduring quest for personal fulfillment in the face of adversity.

Praise

“Ultra-contemporary…Hamya’s observations are biting and truthful…This is a novel about precarious housing, precarious work, and precarious mental health: all things that are connected…A polemical novel, in a tradition of women writing about the cost of freedom that includes Woolf and leads to novelists such as Deborah Levy and Rachel Cusk. But the book also belongs to a new genre of socially realist writing about millennial poverty and what that does to women’s ambitions (see Raven Leilani’s Luster, Lily King’s Writers and Lovers, and, most recently, Anna Glendenning’s An Experiment in Leisure)…[Hamya] is astute at portraying a new young precariat, rich in culture and education, but poor in housing and job opportunities…This is a novel in which disaffection feels real—and, at the novel’s end, the wraith-like heroine finds a heartstoppingly dramatic expression of her distress.”
—Guardian

“A slim, intense novel that clung to me from the first page to the last. Jo Hamya’s writing is breathtaking and unlike anyone else’s—gorgeous, unflinching, and distilled, her sentences carried a quiet wisdom and surprising bursts of tenderness that cut through to my heart. Three Rooms is a spectacular debut novel about womanhood, belonging, and the attempt to carve out a private space to live and work within a hostile world. It asks the question of how we construct our identity and find our voice without a room of one’s own.”
 —Sanaë Lemoine, author of The Margot Affair

“Three Rooms is brilliant, and brilliant in new ways. Jo Hamya’s writing is full of unexpected angles and original, vivid approaches; it’s intelligent, melancholy, funny and subtle.”
—Chris Power, author of A Lonely Man and Mothers

“A meticulous portrait of a hostile present drawn from a year spent haunting others’ houses, Hamya’s prose is both spectral and steeped in contemporary reality—a slow but sure burn.”
—Olivia Sudjic, author of Sympathy

“A stunning achievement. Three Rooms is both assertion and interrogation: of the world, our immediate landscape, ourselves. Hamya’s writing is silken, delicate yet tough, successfully bearing the weight of deft observations that unsettle, even while they bear witness. Her assured candour is awe inspiring, truth telling rarely feels so immersive, so enjoyable a read. I’m full of curious excitement about what she’ll write in the future. In every way possible, Three Rooms is a novel for our times.”
—Courttia Newland, author of A River Called Time and screenwriter for Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” films

“Three Rooms is a masterpiece of attentiveness. Hamya’s rooms are not just filled with furniture, air and light, but with social codes and gestures, politics, privileges and precarities; they are rooms filled with all the clatter and pressure and bullshit of the infosphere, and the exhausting acclivity of trying to find a meaningful home within it, or just somewhere vaguely affordable to live. Incisive, funny, sad and true: I felt every thought of it.”
—Jack Underwood, author of Not Even This

Author Bio

JO HAMYA, a London native, was born in 1997. After spending some time in Miami, she pursued her passion for English literature by obtaining a King’s College London degree. Continuing her academic journey, she furthered her studies at Oxford University, where she focused on the intersection of twentieth-century cultural theory and the digital landscape of the twenty-first century.

Additionally, she explored the influence of social media on contemporary women’s writing, particularly concerning questions of identity and form. Following her time at Oxford, JO HAMYA ventured into the world of publishing, working as a copyeditor for Tatler and contributing to manuscripts published by esteemed presses such as Edinburgh University Press and Doubleday UK. Her writing prowess extends beyond editing, as she has also contributed to the Financial Times. Currently residing in London, JO HAMYA has recently released her debut novel, Three Rooms.