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The Outcast

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

WINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORANGE PRIZE FOR FICTION

The bestselling novel from the author of The Snakes, The Outcast is a powerful portrait of unexpected love and treacherous charades against the backdrop of a sleepy post-war English village

August 1957. Lewis Aldridge, straight out of jail, stands alone at a Surrey railway station.

He's returned to the village where he grew up: the village where, a decade earlier, tragedy tore his family apart, leaving him to a troubled adolescence without a mother and with a father he barely knew.

Now, the only person who understands him is Kit, daughter of a bullying local businessman. Soon they realise that to forge their own futures, they must first confront the darkest secrets of their past.

As family, love, passion, sex and violence become ever more so intertwined, can Kit and Lewis find their way back to each other amidst the chaos?

'If you liked Atonement by Ian McEwan, you'll love this' Harper's Bazaar

'A tragic account of the devastating effects of parental abuse and the redemptive power of true love' Guardian

'In the tradition of Remains of the Day...a passionate and deeply suspenseful novel' Margot Livesey

© Sadie Jones 2008 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Critics Review

An elegant, subtle, haunting novel that stayed with me long after I finished it. Sadie Jones has a long literary future ahead of her
Tracy Chevalier
The prose is elegant and spare, but the story it reveals is raw and explosive... Devastatingly good'
Daily Mail
Jones's story is imbued with brooding atmosphere and drama. Understated and elegantly narrated with attention to period detail, this is a gripping love story with a twist. If you liked Atonement by Ian McEwan, you'll love this
Harper's Bazaar
Eminently readable first novel....reads like a thriller, the tension and menace build expertly...a powerful, promising first novel
Financial Times
She writes with simmering intensity... particularly strong on atmosphere... Jones uses small, startling phrases to convey depths of passion and information and she can make seemingly innocuous passages radiate beauty
Sunday Telegraph
A dark but beautifully written, heart-wringing suspense tale... The claustrophobic, menacing atmosphere of Sadie Jones's page-turning debut never lets up, and that's admirable enough, but it's more than narrative tension that makes the novel special. Her writing is deeply affecting... the quality of the writing and the desire to see justice done keep one reading avidly
Independent on Sunday
Controlled, insightful first novel... Comparisons with Ian McEwan are inevitable, but Jones's assured, compassionate writing is satisfyingly original
Guardian
This hotly-tipped debut certainly delivers. The prose is clean and clear; so disciplined and spare
Independent
Sadie Jones proves she's no novice when it comes to poignant prose with this, her debut novel... The sense of mounting suspense coupled with the beautifully drawn characterisation makes this a novel that's guaranteed to get right under your skin
Glamour
This elegantly written debut novel brings to life both her alienated and damaged protagonist and the small minded community that condemns him
Sunday Times
Author Sadie Jones
Narrator Sadie Jones
Duration 9 hours and 27 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781529191738
Format Audiobook
Publisher Random House
Genre Family life fiction, Historical fiction, Modern and contemporary fiction
Availability AU, GB, IE

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