The Truants
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3.8 • 12 Ratings
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
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'In the vein of Agatha Christie herself. Startling' - Irish Times
'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
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AN OBSERVER, i AND NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
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During the first year of university, a group of friends discover the cost of an extraordinary life in this captivating debut about obsession, rivalry and coming of age
Jess Walker, middle child of a middle class family, has perfected the art of vanishing in plain sight. But when she arrives at a concrete university campus under flat, grey, East Anglian skies, her world flares with colour.
Drawn into a tightly-knit group of rule breakers – led by their maverick teacher, Lorna Clay – Jess begins to experiment with a new version of herself. But the dynamic between the friends begins to darken as they share secrets, lovers and finally a tragedy. Soon Jess is thrown up against the question she fears most: what is the true cost of an extraordinary life?
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'Hypnotic . . . An uncommonly clever whodunnit' New York Times Book Review
'Deftly plotted with vivid, compelling characters' Jojo Moyes
'One of the standout books of the summer' Stylist
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jessica Walker, the 19-year-old narrator of British author Weinberg's promising but uneven debut, enrolls at a university in East Anglia to study under prize-winning writer Lorna Clay, best known for The Truants, a book that argues debauchery is fundamental to artistic brilliance. Lorna's current focus is the "rescue" of Agatha Christie and other female authors who have been "dismissed from the canon as irrelevant." The semester starts strong, with Jess impressing Lorna and finding friends who also subscribe to the charismatic professor's hedonistic philosophies. Jess, fellow English major Georgie, South African journalist and visiting fellow Alec, and second-year geology student Nick are initially inseparable, but then triangles form and jealousies flare. When betrayal finally tears the group apart, Jess turns to Lorna for advice and support; as it happens, though, Lorna has secrets and an agenda of her own. Weinberg writes incisively and evocatively about infatuation, heartbreak, and grief, but what begins as a tense, taut, character-driven slow burn succumbs to coincidence and melodrama. Weinberg aims high, but misses her mark.
