The Wreck

‘Satisfyingly detailed and juicy… an utter treat’ Amy Liptrot

‘A tender and wise portrait of love and friendship that ponders with an astonishingly light touch big questions to do with who we are and how we live. She’s done it again!’ Chloë Ashby

Two couples pursue their dream of communal living in the English countryside – and then it all comes tumbling down, in this stunning new illustrated novel from the prize-winning author of Alison

Charlotte and Francesca were best friends at university in the mid-1970s. But tensions coursed beneath their natural affection, deepening when Fran got together with Charlotte’s friend Adrian, and the two women drifted apart.

When Fran contacts Charlotte out of the blue with an unusual proposal – an invitation to live with her and Adrian in the rambling house they’ve bought in the countryside – Charlotte impulsively persuades her partner, Bill, to accept this tantalising promise of a new kind of community.

At first their new life feels utopian; life and space are shared joyfully. But it doesn’t take long for old tensions to rise to the surface, shattering their illusions and showing each of them in a new light.

The Wreck is a glorious genre-defying illustrated novel about the messy tangle of love, envy and desire that underpins our most precious relationships, and the difficult paths we must take to discover our true selves.

‘No other writer or artist can pinpoint the queasy interdependence of class and the arts in England with such nauseous accuracy, only to pull the rug out from under us with tenderness’ Joanna Walsh

‘I fell hopelessly in love with The Wreck… A beautiful, funny, clever, insightful book’ Lisa Owens

‘A one-of-a-kind novel. I adored every page of it’ Ana Kinsella

Read a sample here