Heatstroke
On sale
28th May 2020
Price: £16.99
‘A thrilling look at mothers and daughters, adolescence, sex, suburbia and secrets’ NELL FRIZZELL
—
In the middle of a stifling suburban heatwave, fifteen-year-old Lily doesn’t come home one afternoon.
Rachel is Lily’s teacher. Her daughter Mia is Lily’s best friend. Soon, they discover that Lily planned to disappear.
As Rachel becomes obsessed with where Lily might be, and who she is with, she finds herself increasingly distrustful of Mia.
Rachel knows that her daughter is hiding something… because she is hiding something too.
—
‘Stylish and sensual’ KIRAN MILLWOOD HARGRAVE
‘Beautifully explores the complicated relationship between mothers and teenage daughters’ HEAT
‘Barkworth is excruciatingly good’ OBSERVER
‘A sultry, stifling debut exploring power, consent and womanhood’ COSMOPOLITAN
Readers can’t stop talking about Heatstroke:
‘A perfect story of obsession and intrigue’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘Original, compelling, bewitching’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘Fans of Maggie O’Farrell will devour this’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘The perfect summer read!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
—
In the middle of a stifling suburban heatwave, fifteen-year-old Lily doesn’t come home one afternoon.
Rachel is Lily’s teacher. Her daughter Mia is Lily’s best friend. Soon, they discover that Lily planned to disappear.
As Rachel becomes obsessed with where Lily might be, and who she is with, she finds herself increasingly distrustful of Mia.
Rachel knows that her daughter is hiding something… because she is hiding something too.
—
‘Stylish and sensual’ KIRAN MILLWOOD HARGRAVE
‘Beautifully explores the complicated relationship between mothers and teenage daughters’ HEAT
‘Barkworth is excruciatingly good’ OBSERVER
‘A sultry, stifling debut exploring power, consent and womanhood’ COSMOPOLITAN
Readers can’t stop talking about Heatstroke:
‘A perfect story of obsession and intrigue’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘Original, compelling, bewitching’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘Fans of Maggie O’Farrell will devour this’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘The perfect summer read!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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Reviews
Stylish and sensual
Pulls you into its sweaty interior and keeps you gripped to the end. Darkly atmospheric and so well written
Raw, unsparing and almost unbearably tender. Perfect sentences swim gracefully across every page, overlaying a narrative that delights in wrong-footing the readers' assumptions. I couldn't tear myself away
A scorching tale of obsession, betrayal and the wounds that mothers and daughters inflict on each other in the name of love
Painfully real, and so beautifully written I wanted to stay within its pages forever. Heatstroke is unsettling, challenging and utterly immersive
Tense, sultry, unsettling, sweaty and evocative . . . A thrilling look at mothers and daughters, adolescence, sex, suburbia and secrets
Sexy, sensual, difficult, provocative - I was hooked for every twist, turn and revelation. This is definitely one of the best reads of the summer. I was blown away
I gulped this whole thing down in one sitting. It's compulsive, sticky and full of gorgeous writing
Fevered and claustrophobic
Barkworth is excruciatingly good at encapsulating that point in life where Mia and Lily stand - on the edge of growing up... Intense and claustrophobic, this is an impressive first book
Gripping and intensely atmospheric... beautifully explores the complicated relationship between mothers and teenage daughters... you won't want to put this down
A sultry, stifling debut
An atmospheric read that will draw you into its tangled web
Dark and unsettling
A summer sizzler... with twists, turns and revelations in all the right places...This is Barkworth's first novel and she's hit the format out of the park
Barkworth has a pinsharp eye for detail...it's propulsive, thought-provoking and atmospheric
A bold and beautifully written novel of desire and danger
Read if you liked Big Little Lies... A torrid, tense story about forbidden passions, played out over one steamy summer