The City Changes Its Face

A New York Public Library Best Book of 2025

A most anticipated novel of 2025 in the Guardian, Financial Times, Irish Times, New Statesman, Independent, Sunday Times, and Stylist

"One of the finest writers at work today."--ANNE ENRIGHT

"Her prose is as haunting and moving as music."--ELIZABETH MCCRACKEN

"McBride is a cartographer of the secret self, guiding us towards hidden treasure."--CLAIRE KILROY

"So, all would be grand then, as far as the eye could see. Which it was, for a while. Up until the city, remembering its knives and forks, invited itself in to dine."

It's 1995. Outside their grimy window, the city rushes by. But in the flat there is only Stephen and Eily. Their bodies, the tangled sheets. Unpacked boxes stacked in the kitchen and the total obsession of new love.

Eighteen months later, the flat feels different. Love is merging with reality. Stephen's teenage daughter has re-appeared, while Eily has made a choice, the consequences of which she cannot outrun. Now they face a reckoning for all that's been left unspoken - emotions, secrets and ambitions. Tonight, if they are to find one another again, what must be said aloud?

Love rallies against life. Time tells truths. The city changes its face.