The New Girl

I was so absorbed by The New Girl. In this suspenseful debut, Harriet Walker applies the finest of brushes to those shades of grey between friendship and rivalry - not so much domestic noir as domestic gris. I recommend

Louise Candlish

I have not been as gripped and stunned by a story since reading Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl. I could not put it down. This is a masterpiece

Emma Gannon

Female friendship, fashion and intense rivalry makes for an unsettling and unputdownable debut novel

Grazia

A harsh look at the deep insecurities of women in an intriguing debut from The Times fashion editor

Woman & Home

Single White Female meets The Devil Wears Prada, this is an ingenious thriller that I couldn't put down. A beautifully written, tense and chilling story of toxic friendships, insecurities and guilt. This deserves to be huge

Claire Douglas

A taut psychological thriller, and a chilling and intricate examination of the complexities of female friendships and rivalries

Charlotte Philby

A sleek and stylish thriller

Red

i devoured it. I could never predict the ending, which takes immense skill. This book is going to be a huge hit

Bella Mackie

New wave of postnatal punk

The Sunday Times

Harriet Walker's The New Girl, set against a backdrop of magazines, explores female friendships while ramping up the tension and is ideal for lazing in the sun with

Stylist

Movingly portrays the fragility of friendship and the corrosive effect of mistrust and recriminations in a wickedly funny psychological thriller that's in turn brutal and tender

Publishers Weekly

A tense, sophisticated exploration of female friendships fraught with insecurities set in the ruthless world of fashion magazines. Gripping and thrillingly unsettling, it kept me reading through the night

Ruth Hogan

A magnificent rollercoaster of a book

Celia Anderson, author of 59 Memory Lane

This gripping tale of friendship and motherhood is the perfect summer read

MSN

A taut and tense debut . . . with a plot that is both pacy and rich with tension and a cast of unreliable and flawed characters. The New Girl is suspenseful and stylish writing at its very best.

The Literary Edit

Wonderfully drawn . . . Reveals something deep and real about the isolation of new motherhood. There were moments when I held my breath in this twisty tale, and moments when I caught my breath in sharp recognition.

Georgina Clarke, author of Death and the Harlot

As smart and stylish as a fashion week catwalk show, this gripping debut kept me hooked late into the night!

Annie Lyons

Wonderfully twisty and richly psychological - a compelling read

Leaf Arbuthnot

A compulsive and gripping story that delves into the female psyche and explores how despite appearing to have everything we can be our own worst enemies. With a twisty plot and deftly drawn characters this was a compelling and all-consuming lockdown read

Hannah Persaud, author of The Codes of Love

Ideal for lazing in the sun with

Stylist

Offers a pacey account of modern paranoias . . . a cleverly observed study of the pressure on women to identify as professionals or parents

The Sunday Times

A proper page turner

The Mail on Sunday’s YOU Magazine

A smart page-turner [which] tackles female rivalry

i Newspaper

The New Girl does what the very best psychological thrillers do: takes a scenario that many of us know well and twists it so that it becomes utterly terrifying. Choosing a maternity leave rivalry as a plot device was a masterful stroke and it's executed perfectly; the writing is beautiful and the storyline constantly refuses to head where you think it is going. I flew through this book in a few days (or should that be nights that were later than they were meant to be, as I read 'just one more chapter')

Caroline Corcoran

This stylish psychological thriller brilliantly portrays female friendships and rivalries, new parenthood and the glamorous world of fashion . . . this is essential reading for anyone fascinated by fashion shoots, page layouts, catwalk shows and high-end designers

Independent