Crux

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

A heartstopping story of friendship, thrill-seeking and defying expectations: the explosive second novel from the bestselling author of My Absolute Darling

Dan and Tamma are two Californian teenagers growing up dirt poor in the shadows of the Joshua Tree National Park, one of the world’s great rock climbing meccas. Their mothers had once been teenage waitresses and best friends until their paths diverged. Now Dan’s mother spends her days locked in her room, her dreams squandered and all her hopes pinned on getting her precociously clever son out of town and away to university.

Tamma’s mother holds no such ambition for her mouthy, queer, truant-playing, snaggle-toothed younger daughter, who everyone but Dan believes to be a troublemaker and no-hoper. But Tamma and Dan are fuelled by dreams of becoming legendary rock climbers, of devoting their lives to summiting the most challenging climbs and defying all the expectations, both good and bad, that others have for them.

Climbing at sun-up, on cliff faces that test their bodies to the limit, is where their friendship is forged. It’s also the one thing that gives them hope. But as their final year of high school unfolds and their climbs become ever more dangerous, and their home lives ever more extreme, it’s inevitable that something is going to snap...

'Tender, immersive, and thrilling' GABRIELLE ZEVIN, author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

'One of the best novels I've ever read about friendship between a young man and a young woman ... Exciting and tension filled' STEPHEN KING

'Profound and stunning ... It will make you question yourself and every one of your beliefs' LIZ NUGENT

© Gabriel Tallent 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Critics Review

I wasn't seeking a novel about the intense platonic friendship between two young rock climbers, but here Crux is, and she’s a beauty
Gabrielle Zevin, author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
One of the best novels I’ve ever read about friendship between a young man and a young woman ... exciting and tension-filled
Stephen King
An adrenalized, heart-stopping, stomach-lurching ride of the highest stakes
Elizabeth Gilbert, author of City of Girls
A breathtaking, thrilling and unforgettable story of friendship, of hopes and dreams against a reality so harsh it broke my heart
Chris Whitaker, author of All the Colours of the Dark
Rowdy, electric … Tallent initiate[s] readers into the subculture of climbing, the teenagers’ consciousnesses and … their tender hearts.
New York Times
Ferocious, poetic ... and almost insanely bighearted ... its writing is monster-audacious
Washington Post
Profound and stunning ... will make you question yourself and every one of your beliefs
Liz Nugent, author of Strange Sally Diamond
Gabriel Tallent's last name is no misnomer. With CRUX, he has delivered a beautiful novel, with fully realised characters that made my heart soar and fall in equal measure
Kasim Ali, author Who Will Remain
A towering coming-of-age saga packed with muscle and heart
Publishers Weekly
There are books we like well enough to recommend, but there are a very few - To Kill a Mockingbird, Catch-22, The Things They Carried - that we remember forever. To my own shortlist I can now add My Absolute Darling, by Gabriel Tallent The word masterpiece has been cheapened by too many blurbs, but My Absolute Darling absolutely is one
Stephen King, praise for My Absolute Darling

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