Novel!

With my friend Chloë Houston, I’ve written a novel and it’s about to be published. Here are 9 interesting things about it.

1. It’s called The Book Game, and it’s published by 4^th Estate on 5 June.

2. It’s published under the pseudonym Frances Wise.

3. It’s co-authored. Chloë and I would meet on Zoom, allocate scenes (‘You do the dinner party; I’ll do the punch-up in the garden’, etc.), and then we’d write. When we ran out of the steam, we’d swap. Why are there not more co-authored novels? It’s such a fun way to work.

4. We made a rule: no similes or metaphors. It’s plot, character, action, hooks, speed, and conflict. We wrote almost all of it between 5 and 7am: before life and work intruded. We wrote very fast.

5. It tells the story of a week-long writing retreat in an idyllic country house in a hot August. The week starts off perfectly – swimming in the pools; meals together; writing in the garden; drinks; games. But cracks start to emerge and by the end of the week, everything is unravelling fast.

6. It’s central cast is a group of old friends and colleagues in peak mid-life: 40s and 50s. Think Miranda July meets Joanna Trollope with a soupçon of John Milton and a dash of White Lotus. It’s a Miranda Trollope-Milton-Lotus.

7. You can pre-order a copy by going here.

8. This is what Joanna Cannon (author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep) thinks:

‘Genuinely gave me the chills, there’s more than a pinch of P.G. Wodehouse in there too, and the whip-smart observations made me laugh out loud. This is a novel about the fierce and pivotal moments in our lives which might seem all-consuming but which will, eventually, become only biscuit crumbs…and the ending was PERFECT. Magnificent.’

9. And here is the cover.