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  • Published: 14 January 2025
  • ISBN: 9781784745493
  • Imprint: Chatto & Windus
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $38.00

The Favourites





An epic love story that reimagines the tempestuous romance of Wuthering Heights in the sparkling, savage world of elite figure skating

Everyone thinks Heath Rocha was my first love. He wasn’t. My first love was figure skating.

She might not have a famous name, funding, or her family’s support, but Katarina Shaw has always known that she was destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating – and each other – to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating the world with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style, and rollercoaster relationship.

Until a shocking incident at the Olympic Games brings their partnership to a sudden end.

As the ten-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorised documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the ‘real story’ through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary. But she can't stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy either. So, after a decade of silence, she's telling her story: from the childhood tragedies that created her all-consuming bond with Heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. Sensational rumours have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines.

Alternating Kat’s own account of her dramatic rise and devastating fall with scandalous snippets from the tell-all film, and capturing the can’t-look-away intensity of Emily Bronte’s classic novel, The Favourites is an exhilarating dance between passion, ambition, and what it truly means to win

  • Published: 14 January 2025
  • ISBN: 9781784745493
  • Imprint: Chatto & Windus
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $38.00

About the author

Layne Fargo

Layne Fargo writes dark, dramatic stories that support women’s rights—and also women’s wrongs. She’s the author of psychological thrillers They Never Learn and Temper, co-author of the #1 bestselling Audible Original series Young Rich Widows (coming to paperback in spring 2024), and co-creator of the Unlikeable Female Characters podcast on Lit Hub Radio. Her first work of women’s fiction The Favorites is forthcoming from Chatto & Windus in January 2025.
Before becoming a full-time writer, Layne worked as a dramaturg, a librarian, and a corporate knowledge manager, and she still loves going down a good research rabbit hole. She lives in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood with a rescue pit bull and cat who are best friends, the only man she never wants to murder (well, almost never), and way too many books.

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Praise for The Favourites

'If you have ever watched Olympic ice dancing teams and wondered if the chemistry between them persists when they’re not competing . . . well, have I got a book for you. Part Wuthering Heights and part Daisy Jones And The Six, this novel is as brilliantly choreographed as a gold medal performance, and will keep you guessing until its last page.'

Jodi Picoult, NYT bestselling author of WISH YOU WERE HERE and MAD HONEY

'Layne Fargo is back with another deliciously scathing, sexy novel. You might not have known you needed Wuthering Heights on ice, but trust me, you do. Passionate, cutthroat, and irresistibly fun. You won’t be able to put it down.'

Julia Fine, author of MADDALENA AND THE DARK

'The Favourites is nothing short of breathtaking. The ferocious passion between Kat and Heath leaps off the page'

Margarita Montimore, author of The Rearranged Life of Oona Lockhart

'An addictive read... as shimmering and lethal as ice-dancing itself.'

Emma Brodie, author of Songs in Ursa Major

'The Favourites is a true literary triple axel- a smart and nuanced retelling of a classic, a tense sports drama, and a perfectly twisted romance.'

Rachel Hawkins, author of The Wife Upstairs

'As a former competitive figure skater, I devoured this... Layne Fargo proves she is the queen of writing complex, fierce and utterly compelling women'

Wendy Walker, author of What Remains

‘As romantic as it is thrilling

Ela Lee, author of Jaded

‘A glittery compulsive whirl of a book, filled with spite and love and sequins and ambition’

Holly Gramazio, author of The Husbands

‘A scorching saga of rivalry, betrayal and love’

Melinda Salisbury, author of The Sin Eater’s Daughter

An utterly compulsive read… Fargo’s experience as a thriller writer…is evident in the breathless pace at which The Favourites unfolds… The Favourites will be your next obsession

Bookseller

[A] perfectly achieved leap into the world of figure skating and the relationship between two of its stars

Sainsbury's Magazine

One of the most heart-wrenching, epic and passionate romances I’ve read in quite some time... I flew through it in a weekend because I couldn’t get enough of their once-in-a-lifetime chemistry, and I already wish I could read it again for the first time.

Betty Cayouette, People Magazine

Discover more

Article
Real Readers Review: The Favourites by Layne Fargo

A reimagining of the tempestuous romance of Wuthering Heights set in the cut-throat world of professional ice skating… what do readers really think about The Favourites?

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