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

Author: Wait, Rebecca

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

Published on 3 July 2025 by Quercus Publishing (riverrun) in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 400 pages
242 x 165 x 35 | 612g

'A LABYRINTHINE MYSTERY OF EMOTIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY' Jo Brand'DELIRIOUS AND REWARDING' Guardian'UNMISSABLE' Woman's WeeklyFleeing 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?READERS ARE LOVING HAVOC:'Superb. Brilliantly funny, at times extremely poignant' ?????'Another beautifully written book by Rebecca' ?????'Utterly glorious, moving, enthralling and witty. I am so cross I have finished it' ?????'I absolutely loved the humour in this book. Bonus points for the Cold War references' ?????'Entertaining and humorous' ?????