Talking at Night: A Novel

Talking at Night, published in 2023, is author Claire Daverley’s debut novel. Daverley has been writing since she was six years old. After graduating with a Fine Arts Degree from Oxford University, she began writing fiction in her spare time, on the train and late at night while working in publishing. Talking at Night was selected for the Fearne Cotton Happy Place Book Club, shortlisted for the Debut of the Year at the British Book Awards 2023, long listed for the Waterstones Debut of the Year 2023, and shortlisted for the Nota Bene Prize 2024. Daverley is from Hertfordshire and resides in Scotland, where she is working on her second novel.

This guide refers to the 2023 Viking eBook edition.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide reference body image struggles, anti-gay bias, suicide, and addiction to alcohol.

Plot Summary

Will White meets Rosie Winters during their last year of high school when he begins tutoring Rosie’s twin brother Josh in math. Will, the archetypical, popular, high school rule breaker talks with Rosie one night at a bonfire and shares that his mom abandoned him and his sister Amber, leaving Gran as their caregiver. Later, Will gets stranded at Rosie’s house during a snowstorm, and they stay up all night talking. Rosie is Will’s opposite, driven and focused on getting into Oxford, but she can’t deny her attraction to Will. Will wants to date her, but Rosie asks him to wait until she completes her exams. Secretly, Rosie deals with obsessive-compulsive disorder and body image issues stemming from anxiety over pleasing her mom. Josh becomes withdrawn and sad, eventually revealing to Rosie that he’s gay and has a crush on Will. Rosie lies to Will and tells him they can’t be together because he’s wrong for her. Will’s friends host a bonfire for his 18th birthday, and Rosie and Josh attend. Josh, still wrestling with coming out publicly, drinks too much at the party. Will tries to stop him, but Josh walks too close to the cliff’s edge and falls to his death.

Rosie leaves for college and forgoes her dream of studying music while still profoundly grieving Josh’s loss. Her grief and the stresses of college intensify her isolation and anxiety, and her OCD becomes worse, robbing her of sleep and impacting her physical health. She hides Josh’s death from her friends and writes music and poetry in secret, sometimes on her body. Will remains at home, living with Gran and Amber, and continues working in a mechanic shop. Will hides his depression, something he’s wrestled with since early adolescence. Having struggled with alcohol dependence in the past, Will reverts to his old habits and drinks heavily to numb the guilt he carries over Josh dying on his birthday. He and Rosie barely talk, and he has sex with many women. Rosie begins dating Simon, whose kind, solid personality makes her feel safe. When summer break arrives, Rosie stays with Will and Gran instead of going home and recovers from her difficult semester. Will and Rosie travel to Montenegro for five days, and though each knows they are in love, both are too scared to say it, as neither has fully recovered from Josh’s death. Rosie reluctantly returns to Oxford and later marries Simon.

Will moves to the coast and works as a mechanic while serving on the Mountain Rescue crew. He meets Jen, and they move in together, but he still thinks of Rosie often. He begins taking antidepressants and seeing a therapist to help him improve his mental health. Rosie’s marriage to Simon is full of routine and security but unfulfilling, and she exhausts herself with work and maintaining her physical appearance. Rosie decides she wants a divorce and asks her mom, an attorney, for help, but her mother pushes her to make it work. Rosie quits her corporate job and begins teaching music, which brings her some emotional fulfillment. Gran dies in her sleep and Will returns home to plan the funeral. Amber asks Rosie to sing at the service, and afterward, she and Will reconnect. Though he plans to leave and travel the world, he stays, and he and Rosie embark on a five-month-long affair, resolving years of emotional and physical tension.

Simon is diagnosed with cancer, and Rosie leaves abruptly to care for him. Will is heartbroken but resolves to be Rosie’s friend, if nothing else. He drives them to Simon’s treatments and stays with Simon while Rosie is at work. Simon and Will become close friends, but Simon discovers that he and Rosie were together during their separation. Rosie runs away, traveling to Vienna to write and perform music. She and Simon divorce and Will settles for a solitary life, opening his mechanic shop and avoiding alcohol and women. Rosie wants to attend music school but finds life in Vienna lonely. She returns to Norwich and surprises Will, telling him that all she wants in life is to be with him.