A sophisticated and conversation-starting novel of modern love, sexual violence, and toxic inheritance from a brilliant new literary voice
When Kate Quaile meets Max Rippon in the first week of university, so begins a life-changing friendship.
Over the next four years, the two become inseparable. For him, she breaks her solitude; for her, he leaves his busy circles behind. But knowing Max means knowing his family: the wealthy Rippons, all generosity, social ease, and quiet repression. Theirs is a very different world from Kateโs own upbringing, and yet she finds herself quickly drawn into their gilded lives, and the secrets that lie beneath. Until one evening, atย the Rippons home, just after graduation, her life is shattered apart in a bedroom while a partyย goes on downstairs.
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What Red Wasย is an incisive and mesmerizing novel about power, privilege, and consentโone that fearlessly explores the effects of trauma on the mind and body of a young woman, the tyrannies of memory, the sacrifices involved in staying silent, and the courage in speaking out. And when Kate does, it raises this urgent question: Whose story is it now?
Praise for What Red Was
โ[A] masterful, incisive debutโฆ reminiscent of Donna Tartt or Edward St. Aubyn.โ USA Today
โDazzling. . . ย This is a book that succeeds in prying open our cultural moment and laying it bare for scrutiny.โโAlexandra Kleeman, author ofย You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine
โOne of the best books Iโve ever read about female rage and transgression . . . atย once incredibly timely and one for the ages.โโLisa Gabriele, author ofย The Winters
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โSo assured, so confident in its voice, so skilful in its plotting and characterisation that it seems like the work of a seasoned author . . .ย an exciting new voice.โโThe Guardianย (UK)
โPowerfulโฆ handles its explosive plot with an admirable delicacyโโPublishers Weekly
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โThoughtful and observantโฆPrice is a novelist worth watching.โ โKirkus
โA confident and provocative study of wealth, sexual violence, and complicated friendships . . . [What Red Was] is a strong debut by an incredibly young author, an assured and challenging novel that suggests an incipient talent worthy of notice.โโThe Irish Times
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