A crackling, comical, tender, and highly original novel about mental health, the certainties of medicine, buried trauma, love, death and time lost in the crushing – and comical – hopes of modern life

‘The best thing you'll read this year’ KILEY REID ‘So beautiful’ SARAH JESSICA PARKER ‘One of those books I will read again and again’ JOJO MOYES ‘Moving, absorbing, evocative’ SARA COLLINS ‘Wonderful ... Compelling ... Very funny’ MARINA HYDE A crackling, comical, tender, and highly original novel about mental health, the certainties of medicine, buried trauma, love, death and time lost in the crushing – and comical – hopes of modern life _______________________________________________________ Vita Woods is on the brink. She has a good job and a successful doctor boyfriend, Max, with whom the sex is great and the chat sufficient; a vivacious and charming sister Gracie, her verbal sparring partner and best friend for life; and she’s even got a goldfish called Whitney Houston, who brightens her days by showing her she's not the only one going round in circles. Because it’s the days that are Vita’s problem. Vita is not leaving the house. In fact, Vita rarely exits the basement apartment where she lives, since Vita is in “The Pit” – a place of deep exhaustion and semi-consciousness where she spends much of her time, dead to the world and to herself. She has been sick for months, with an illness that no doctor, not even Max, can medically diagnose. One day an unexpected courier delivery forces Vita upstairs, into the light - and into a chance encounter with her neighbours upstairs. Suddenly, Vita finds herself faced with an even trickier dilemma. She likes her new friends; she’ll even sneak upstairs to see them while Max is out, against all medical advice but something about her “condition” is nagging at the borders of her mind. After all, what is a house-bound girl to do when she can’t keep the light, her new friendships, or - worst of all - her memories out? The problem might be Vita herself but as far as anyone can prove... there’s nothing wrong with her. ‘Encompasses so many things: a whole life - sorrows, damage, hopes' RICHARD CURTIS 'Surreal, magical, totally original' SATHNAM SANGHERA 'Deep and dark and beautiful' ESTHER FREUD PRAISE FOR KATE WEINBERG AND THE TRUANTS 'One of the standout books of the summer' Stylist 'Magical in every way . . . One of the best novels I've ever read' Fearne Cotton 'As much a coming-of-age tale as a murder mystery . . . An impressive debut' The Times

"Praise for The Truants: Marks Weinberg out as a natural storyteller, in the vein of Agatha Christie herself. Startling" - IRISH TIMES

"With deft characterisation, plenty of mystery and twists in the tale, it had me gripped" - DAILY MAIL

"As much a coming-of-age tale as a murder mystery . . . An impressive debut" - THE TIMES

"Weinberg's debut is a page-turning tale of love, death and betrayal on a university campus that riffs on Donna Tartt's The Secret History while exerting a subtle pull of its own" - I PAPER, Books of the Year

"After surprising twists, Kate Weinberg provides a satisfying conclusion while asking the question: does a mystery lose its magic once it’s solved?" - GUARDIAN

"Think The Secret History meets Agatha Christie" - RED

"A must read for fans of mystery novels ... Cleverly written and relentlessly intriguing, The Truants is the perfect novel for inquisitive minds to escape into" - MARIE CLAIRE

"In this mesmerising debut, Kate Weinberg confidently combines literary suspense and deftly executed narrative, slowly unravelling a tangled tale about first love, obsession and the boundaries of self-identity . . . A riveting read" - SCOTSMAN

"This satisfying coming-of-age novel jives to a thriller-like beat. It’s a debut, though you wouldn't necessarily know it from its assured tone. While Donna Tartt’s The Secret History is a clear influence, it’s Agatha Christie whose work is most explicitly referenced, stoking an ominous sense of impending calamity" - MAIL ON SUNDAY