What Red Was

For fans of My Dark Vanessa, Netflix's Unbelievable, Sally Rooney, and Susan Choi, an important novel about modern love, consent, and toxic inheritance from a brilliant new voice.

A Belletrist Book Pick

"[A] masterful, incisive debut... reminiscent of Donna Tartt or Edward St. Aubyn."--USA Today(four out of four stars)

When Kate Quaile meets Max Rippon the first week of university, so begins a life-changing friendship. Over the next four years, the two become inseparable. But knowing Max means knowing his family: the wealthy Rippons, all generosity, social ease, and quiet repression. Until one evening at a summer party at their home, Kate's life is shattered in a bedroom while the music plays on downstairs. And she is forced to make a choice: to speak up or stay silent.

Incisively exploring the effects of trauma on the mind and body of a young woman, What Red Was is piercing novel of power, privilege, and consent from a fearless new voice.