The Empty Room

A raw and groundbreaking journey to the depths of addiction, from the author of Our Daily Bread, longlisted for the Giller Prize.

Colleen Kerrigan wakes up sick and bruised, with no clear memory of the night before. It's Monday morning, and she is late for work again. She's shocked to see the near-empty vodka bottle on her kitchen counter. It was full at noon yesterday; surely she didn't drink that much last night? As she struggles out the door, she fights the urge to have a sip, just to take the edge off. But no, she's not going to drink today.

But this is the day Colleen's demons come for her. A very bad day spirals into night as a series of flashbacks take the reader through Colleen's past—moments of friendship and loss, fragments of peace and possibility. The single constant is the bottle, always close by, Colleen's worst enemy and her only friend.

In this unforgettable work, acclaimed novelist Lauren B. Davis has created as searing, raw and powerful a portrayal of the chaos and pain of alcoholism as we have encountered in fiction. Told with compassion, insight and an irresistible gallows humor, The Empty Room takes us to the depths of addiction, only to find a revelation at its heart: the importance and grace of one person reaching out to another.