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  • Published: 9 May 2019
  • ISBN: 9781473565319
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 384

What Red Was

‘One of the most powerful debuts you’ll ever read’ (Stylist)




A powerful, unforgettable story of modern love, privilege and a young woman’s journey after her life falls apart.

'An urgent story told beautifully' - Dolly Alderton
'Gripping, unflinching and elegant' - Sophie Mackintosh

A powerful, unforgettable story about modern love, privilege and a young woman's journey after her life falls apart.

******

When Kate meets Max in the first week of university, a life-changing friendship begins. Over the next four years, the two become inseparable. But loving Max means knowing his family: the wealthy Rippons, all generosity, social ease and quiet repression.

Theirs is not Kate's world, and yet she finds herself drawn quickly into their gilded lives, and the secrets that lie beneath. Until one summer evening at the Rippons' home, just after graduation, her life is shattered in a bedroom while a party goes on downstairs.

******

An Observer Hottest-Tipped Debut Novelist and Elle One To Watch

'Unforgettable...subversive and sophisticated' Elle
'Outstanding...brilliantly told' Observer
'A writer with a voice as fresh as new paint... Beautiful' The Times
'One of the most powerful debuts you'll ever read' Stylist

'Scorching and original' Sunday Times, Style

'Dazzling... Enthralling' Alexandra Kleeman

'Unputdownable... A powerful and haunting tale' Independent

'If you like David Nicholls, Elizabeth Day, Donna Tartt...it's exceptional' Pandora Sykes

'Compelling... Price's prose glimmers' Mail on Sunday

  • Published: 9 May 2019
  • ISBN: 9781473565319
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 384

About the author

Rosie Price

Rosie Price is 26 years old and lives in London. What Red Was is her debut novel.

Praise for What Red Was

Subversive and sophisticated… [Rosie Price’s] exploration of sexual violence and class makes for an unforgettable read

Elle, **Books to Look Out for in 2019**

An incredibly nuanced exploration of the complexities of sexual violence, WHAT RED WAS heralds the arrival of a major new literary talent. This is an important book.

Louise O'Neill, author of ASKING FOR IT and ALMOST LOVE

WHAT RED WAS is a gripping novel that shines an unflinching light on trauma and its prismatic impact. A deeply necessary book, elegant and assured even as it burns at the centre with cool, clear-eyed rage.

Sophie Mackintosh, author of THE WATER CURE

[A] conversation-starting novel about love, violence and toxicity from [a] subversive new voice

Evening Standard

A confident and provocative debut

John Boyne, The Times

One of the best books I've ever read about female rage and transgression, and the boundaries of both family and art, shot through with gorgeous prose, wrapped in a thrilling plot. WHAT RED WAS is at once incredibly timely and one for the ages. An assured and stealthily brilliant debut that people will be talking about for a long time

Lisa Gabriele, author of THE WINTERS

Bringing together themes of survival, agency, complicity, self-denial and, ultimately, courage, this assured book is one of the most powerful debuts you’ll ever read.

Stylist

Price never takes the obvious route or goes for an easy resolution. A writer to watch

Sarra Manning, Red

A subversive and sophisticated debut

ELLE

A powerful read

Nina Pottell, Prima

A provocative read… Brave and hard-hitting

Charlotte Heathcote, Sunday Express

Rosie Price has a dazzling gift for rendering the mechanisms of power and privilege viscerally real--whether that power is as concrete as a hand over a face, or more amorphous, subtle, and difficult to name. With its penetrating insight into the texture of trauma and its enthralling prose, this is a book that succeeds in prying open our cultural moment and laying it bare for scrutiny

Alexandra Kleeman, author of YOU TOO CAN HAVE A BODY LIKE MINE

A brave and hard hitting read

Psychologies, *Book of the Month*

This exceptional debut is not for the faint-hearted… An honest account of an escalating situation and a woman’s bravery in speaking out

Woman

As a meditation the trauma of rape, Price’s debut is compelling and thought-provoking… the darker the narrative grows, the more brightly Price’s prose glimmers

Hephzibah Anderson, Mail on Sunday

What Red Was introduces an exciting new voice to fiction… Narratives are cleverly interwoven to create a richly textured whole. The writing is polished, wise and possessed of remarkable emotional intelligence. Price is just 26; I cannot wait to see what she produces next

Hannah Beckerman, Observer

This debut is incredibly wrought, smartly written and very, very timely… powerful

UK Press Syndication

Impressive

Patricia Nicol, Sunday Times

Alcoholism, strained friendship and trauma, as well as the power of storytelling, are all sharply expressed

Ella Walker

Feel the sharp edge of Price’s prose… capturing the horrendously common nature of rape…is Price’s greatest accomplishment

Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, Guardian

A scorching and original read... The story of a young girl whose life is torn apart

Style Summer Reading, Sunday Times

An exceptionally accomplished debut novel with strongly drawn characters. It is nuanced, true to life and it will make you burn with rage. Price has not shied away from tackling challenging material here: consent, sexual assault, substance abuse, self-harm and depression are just some of the topics that she deftly examines

SheerLuxe

Unputdownable... A powerful and haunting tale of friendship, privilege and abuse

Independent

Moving, vivid, confronting and bold, What Red Was is an urgent story told beautifully

Dolly Alderton

This outstanding debut novel explore the aftermath of trauma as well as class, addiction and family dynamics

Hannah Beckerman, Sunday Express, *Books of the Year*

What Red Was is an impressively successful debut... if you are looking for a gripping yet thought-provoking read which will have you hooked from the first page, look no further than What Red Was

Libby Wright, Palantinte