SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2025<\/b><\/p>\n
AN OBSERVER <\/i>BEST NEW NOVELIST 2025 <\/b><\/p>\n
‘This summer’s hottest read’
SUNDAY TIMES <\/i><\/p>\n
‘You won’t want to put it down’
BRITISH VOGUE<\/i><\/p>\n
‘Sticky, twisting and dangerous’
REBECCA K REILLY<\/b><\/p>\n
It’s summer. An unnamed young man walks through the gates of a luxurious mansion in the South of France, ready to join the Blake family on their annual holiday. Here, during dreamlike days lounging by the pool and nights blurring into opulent parties, he quickly falls for Felix, the Blake’s eldest son. He is everything the man wants to be – handsome, charismatic, wealthy – and his desire is surprisingly reciprocated. Suddenly, a new world of money and power feels within reach.<\/p>\n
But when summer ends and the two men return to London, the cracks in the Blakes’ careful fa\u00c3\u00a7ade begin to show. With the two tormented by demons of their own, their bond risks being pulled apart at the seams. Their secrets and the choices they make will change not only their lives, but the future of those around them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s summer and a young man walks through the gates of a luxurious mansion in the south of France. At the dinner table, the Blakes are waiting for him: Annie, the family matriarch and world-famous singer, her inscrutable husband David and their children, Dot, aloof and rebellious, Lily, the man’s carefree university friend, and their enigmatic older brother Felix. Between sun-drenched days spent lounging by the pool and nights blurring into endless, opulent parties far from the reality of life in London, a restless attraction grows between Felix and the man. The possibility to be part of a family – and an entire world – in which he doesn’t belong is suddenly within reach. But the idyllic haze of the summer slowly fades as they return to the city. While the man struggles with his troubled past and the challenges of navigating Felix’s world as a black, working-class person, Felix is tormented by demons of his own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[68],"product_tag":[26830,26901,26828,26898,28297,27978,351],"class_list":["post-118146","product","type-product","status-publish","product_cat-general-fiction","product_tag-modern-contemporary-fiction","product_tag-narrative-theme-coming-of-age","product_tag-narrative-theme-sense-of-place","product_tag-narrative-theme-social-issues","product_tag-relating-to-lgbtq-people","product_tag-social-attitudes","product_tag-social-classes","pa_book_author-rayfet-hunter-william","pa_cover-paperback","pa_dewey-823-92-edition23","pa_edition-1st-paperback-ed","pa_imprint-penguin-books","pa_language-english","pa_pages-8281","pa_publisher-penguin-books","pa_readership-general-trade-code-k","first","onbackorder","taxable","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"yoast_head":"\n