Last Sane Woman

Hannah Regel is a writer based in London. She has two published collections of poetry, WHEN I WAS ALIVE and OLIVER REED (Montez Press, 2017 and 2020). OLIVER REED was listed as one of The White Review's books of the year, 2020 and excerpted in Granta magazine. THE LAST SANE WOMAN is her debut novel, the manuscript was a recipient of the K Blundell Trust award.

• "Disquieting and gorgeous, The Last Sane Woman plucks images from the world with the claustrophobic pleasure of picking a scab. It reaches deep into the negative spaces of failure and precarity, and from these resources assembles something caustic, elegant, elusive and foreboding. It’s also funny, with an offbeat, sly lightness that comes from knowing exactly how high the odds are stacked against you. I was hooked by the conversation between Regel’s protagonists, looping across generations to give voice to the pains of making and the shameful pleasures of destruction."—Daisy LaFarge, author of Life without Air and Paul "The Last Sane Woman is a brilliant, slyly funny, and acutely observed meditation on the process both of the making of objects and of one’s own life. Regel’s prose is gorgeous and deftly rendered on every page."—Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water Cure "In Regel's alluring debut novel a London art school graduate takes a job at a feminist archive and stumbles on a mystery buried in the collection ... a distinctive story of female friendship."—Publishers Weekly"Regel started out as a poet before turning to fiction, and the sharp aesthetic sense and ability to hold and distil a moment ... are present here, too."—Holly Connolly, AnOther Magazine

Disquieting and gorgeous, The Last Sane Woman plucks images from the world with the claustrophobic pleasure of picking a scab. It reaches deep into the negative spaces of failure and precarity, and from these resources assembles something caustic, elegant, elusive and foreboding. It's also funny, with an offbeat, sly lightness that comes from knowing exactly how high the odds are stacked against you. I was hooked by the conversation between Regel's protagonists, looping across generations to give voice to the pains of making and the shameful pleasures of destruction.