Souvienne is a small, powerful sapphic romance that lives in the quiet moments — the slow, exacting work of learning someone else’s face, the hush of a cabin after rain, and the ache that follows when secrets fracture a tender bond.
Aldwin Beckett writes with the patient attention of someone who wants you to see every small gesture: the way hands find hands, how silence can be both comfort and distance, and how memory can both save and wound.
This is an intimate study of two women caught between safety and risk. Beckett’s prose draws inspiration from love stories that linger — from Portrait of a Lady on Fire’s lingering glances to the moody landscapes of classic moorland novels — and reshapes them into a modern sapphic tale about rescue, trust, and the cost of secrecy. If you love quiet literary romances that settle under your skin, Souvienne will stay with you.
Quick Look
Title: Souvienne
Author: Aldwin Beckett
Social media: Instagram / BlueSky / GoodReads
Genre: Sapphic Romance Fiction
Publication Date: November 24, 2025
Print Length: 278 pages
Buy here: Amazon / Kobo / Apple
Scotland, 1966: a life traded for solitude, and a single winter night that changes everything.
Cassandra’s life undergoes a drastic change when she trades her bustling London lifestyle for the solitude of an old cabin in the Scottish Highlands. One winter night, she rescues a mysterious, injured woman who seems to remember nothing of her past.
They fall for each other and their bond blossoms until the circumstances force them to face Souvienne’s hidden past and part ways in a manner that leaves both hearts scarred.
Now, it falls to Souvienne to reveal herself fully to Cassandra—or her secrecy will forever obscure their future.
Q&A Interview with Aldwin Beckett
Q: What is your book about and what inspired you to write this book?
A: Writing triggers happen to me every now and then, and sometimes it’s enough to hear a word and end up with a story.
Souvienne began from the strong mental image of a girl living alone in the forest hut. I remember walking along the street and imagining an abstract woman leaning at the fence, surrounded by wilderness, looking somewhere into the distance. Who is she? Why is she there? Who else is there with her? What’s her story? What she wants?
From the very beginning, I had a few sources of inspiration: the movie Portrait of a Lady on Fire and manga Little Forest; also, at that time I was reading Wuthering Heights, which influenced the style a lot, though later on I made the language more modern.
The story itself is simple. I’m reading a lot of different books and genres, but when writing, I’m almost always zooming in, close-up and personal, following the characters around more than focusing on their surroundings. It’s a personal story, one that could happen in reality, should the circumstances combine, and that’s what makes it valuable. There are no high stakes, no world-saving, no superheroes—but life as it is, with its highs and lows.
Q: When did you start writing, and what made you decide to publish this book?
A: I started writing almost exactly two years ago. Unlike many avid authors I know, I’ve never written anything meaningful in my youth aside from a few questionable poems, nor attended to any writing courses, but I’ve started reading early and used to read a lot. In my teen years I could devour a dozen of books every month.
Through my first year in writing I produced nothing worth mentioning, but it was a valuable experience that, I believe, helped me to finish my debut novel. It took me about half-year of editing to get to the publishing.
Q: Which character was the most fun—or most challenging—to write, and why?
A: Thinking about it now, Cassandra sometimes is a boring character, and it’s pretty usual for people to be boring. Life is pretty boring, if you look at it closely, it’s not always about accomplishments and overcoming.
Souvienne, on the other hand, is an enigma. Through the many drafts she used to be more of a plot device than a main character, and only in the latest drafts I finally gave her a unique voice and backstory that should explain her shenanigans.
Q: What themes or messages do you hope readers take away from your book?
A: I am really unsure about the whole idea of ‘messages’ that should be conveyed through the story. Sometimes it’s just a story, this kind of story when one peeks over a character’s shoulder to see what they see.
But if there is any message, it’s this: lie always strikes back.
Q: Were there any real-life experiences that influenced your story or characters?
A: The places described in the book are pretty real. Upper Tyndrum station still stays where it was, the mountains around are still covered in pines. If one takes a route from King’s Cross as described in chapter 15, they could find the place where just some little time ago Gateways Club was located.
Of course, there is no manor house with the hidden attic, or Cassandra’s hut in the forest, and the post office in Clifton is moved into a different building… but you know how memory works: we tend to forget small details.
The whole story is a real-life experience: in some other circumstances it could’ve been a real memoir of a real London girl who decided to escape her life for a forest hut.
Q: What question do you wish readers would ask you about the book?
A: How come that Cassandra held onto her sweet reverie for so long, until their relationship started to crumble, why did she continue to drive away the questions she had to ask long ago?
It may seem strange at first, but I understand her: for the first time in her life she was genuinely happy and she didn’t want to break it apart, ignoring the cracks in the walls. We do that sometimes, aren’t we?
Q: Do you have a favorite quote or moment from the book you’d like to share?
A: I think it’s the ending.
In the early drafts the ending was more resolute, but later on I realised: it gives nothing. This new ending, though, shows that life goes on—and Cassandra, as she said, goes with it along. When you turn the last page, the story doesn’t end, it never ends—it’s simply we can’t see anymore what happens beyond the last chapter.
Q: What was the biggest challenge in writing or publishing it?
A: Self-publishing is a journey by itself, but I felt a pang of panic when my editor’s time slot was moving closer and closer while I wasn’t so sure if the story was even ready to be sent to the editor.
Q: What’s next for you as a writer?
A: I have quite a few novels in progress right now—more sapphic fiction, an urban magic realism novel, literary fiction; I also have a series of sapphic short stories and novellas to be compiled. I also try sending short stories to some magazines.
Book Reviews
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ “A luminous, melancholy love.”
“An intimate, quietly devastating read—Cassandra and Souvienne live in the small honest moments of care that make love feel true.”
— Early reader response
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ “Atmosphere and ache.”
“Beckett’s Highlands are as much a character as the lovers; the novel moves with a slow, deliberate grace.”
— Advance reader
About the Author
Aldwin Beckett is writing sapphic romance and fantasy, with his debut sapphic romance novel published in November 2025. English is his second language. He’s residing in Armenia with his wife and cat, and enjoys traveling and working in IT.
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