'Satisfyingly detailed and juicy... an utter treat' Amy Liptrot

'Friendship, love and a gorgeous old house. A beautiful story beautifully told. I loved inhabiting The Wreck' Jessica Stanley

Two couples pursue their dream of communal living in the English countryside – and then it all comes tumbling down

Charlotte and Francesca were best friends at university in the mid-1970s. But tensions coursed beneath their natural affection, deepening when Fran got together with Charlotte’s friend Adrian, and the two women drifted apart.

When Fran contacts Charlotte out of the blue with an unusual proposal – an invitation to live with her and Adrian in the rambling house they’ve bought in the countryside – Charlotte impulsively persuades her partner, Bill, to accept this tantalising promise of a new kind of community.

At first their new life feels utopian; life and space are shared joyfully. But it doesn’t take long for old tensions to rise to the surface, shattering their illusions and showing each of them in a new light.

The Wreck is a glorious genre-defying illustrated novel about the messy tangle of love, envy and desire that underpins our most precious relationships, and the difficult paths we must take to discover our true selves.


'I fell hopelessly in love with The Wreck... A beautiful, funny, clever, insightful book' Lisa Owens

'A one-of-a-kind novel. I adored every page of it' Ana Kinsella

'A tender and wise portrait of love and friendship' Chloë Ashby

"I adored this... [an] intimate tale of class, envy, love and friendship" - Bookseller *10 titles not to miss in April*

"[A] house?share horror story… Stewart is brilliant at capturing the glorious intimacies of close friendships as well as their pitfalls" - Observer