Havoc

a blistering tragicomedy from the author of I'm Sorry You Feel That Way

Rebecca Wait

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Paperback

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English

RIVERRUN
08 July 2025

Fiction & Literature; Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945); Fiction: special features

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'Tragedy and comedy fuse together perfectly in a labyrinthine mystery of emotional and psychological complexity' Jo Brand

Fleeing Scotland in the wake of family disgrace, 16-year-old Ida Campbell secures a scholarship at a failing girls' boarding school on a remote part of the south English coast. Despite the eccentricities of her new Headmistress, who warns her of the dangers of the Cold War and the ever-present threat of the bomb, St Anne's seems like a refuge to Ida. But all this is about to change. For a start, her new room-mate is the infamous Louise Adler, potential arsonist and hardened outcast.

Meanwhile, the geography teacher Eleanor Alston, in her late thirties, a disastrous love affair in her wake, faces the new term with weary resignation. But the fragile ecosystem of the school is disrupted by the arrival of a new teacher, Matthew Langfield. Eleanor has an uneasy feeling he is not who he says he is.

And things only get worse when a mysterious sickness starts to spread throughout the school, causing strange limb jerks and seizures among the pupils. What is happening to the girls of St Anne's? Could there be a poisoner among them? Is Ida's scholarship really an escape, or is it instead a new nightmare?

Praise for Rebecca Wait:

'IT'LL EASILY BE ONE OF MY BOOKS OF THE YEAR' Hannah Beckerman

'It's a warm book and a touching one. And did I mention it's funny? Just read it. You'll see' The Times

'Funny, tender and sad'

Sunday Express

'If you liked Meg Mason's Sorrow and Bliss, you'll love this novel' Good Housekeeping

'One of the richest explorations of family dysfunction I've read' i newspaper

'Shades of Fleabag in this smart, funny drama' Mail on Sunday

'An enjoyably bittersweet novel about a dysfunctional modern family' Independent

'Razor-sharp ' Observer

'One of the funniest novels you'll read this year' Guardian

By: Rebecca Wait
Imprint: RIVERRUN
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 232mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 34mm
Weight: 480g
ISBN: 9781529434460
ISBN 10: 1529434467
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 08 July 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Rebecca is the author of five novels, the most recent of which, I'm Sorry You Feel That Way, was a Times, Guardian, Express, Good Housekeeping, BBC Culture Book of the Year and it was shortlisted for the Nota Bene Prize. Her novel, Our Fathers, received widespread acclaim and was a Guardian book of the year and a thriller of the month for Waterstones.

Reviews for Havoc: a blistering tragicomedy from the author of I'm Sorry You Feel That Way

Tragedy and comedy fuse together perfectly in a labyrinthine mystery of emotional and psychological complexity. -- Jo Brand Havoc is a rich, wry delight of a read - as funny as it is thought-provoking, as evocative as it is page-turning. Rebecca Wait is a phenomenal storyteller. I can't wait to see what she writes next * Abbie Greaves, author of The Silent Treatment * SCREAMING, CRYING, THROWING UP! Havoc is a fever worth catching, a gloomy and gorgeous pleasure * Maggie Thrash, author of Rainbow Black * Eerie and utterly absorbing . . . [Havoc] is a tragicomic triumph about adolescence, identity and how quickly order can unravel * IMAGE Magazine * A delight to return to [Rebecca's] witty, emotional, insightful writing * Hannah Beckerman * One of my favourite reads of the year! * Charlotte Heathcote * Funny * Good Housekeeping (20 Hottest Books of Summer) * Rebecca Wait has a glorious turn of phrase and a dazzling ability to go on peculiar tangents that never detract, but only ever add to a character's experience . . . Wait's writing is dry and droll, her characters twisty, thoughtful and highly specific, and Havoc is a total blast of a read, perfectly pinpointing where tragedy and wryness meet. * Irish News *