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The Transition

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What to expect

Black Mirror meets David Nicholls in this dark and funny novel about love in dystopian times

Karl has let his debts get wildly out of control and, in desperation, has sort of semi-accidentally committed credit-card fraud. Now he could have to go to prison, so when he and his wife Genevieve are instead offered a place on a mysterious self-improvement scheme called The Transition, they agree. It’s only six months, after all, and at first all it requires is that they give up their credit cards and move into the spare room of their ‘mentors’, Janna and Stu, who seem perfectly lovely . . .

Critics Review

  • The sort of book that cuts you off from your family and has you walking blindly through seven lanes of traffic with your face pressed obliviously to the page’ The Times

    ‘Luke Kennard’s wit and astonishing virtuosity, so present in his poetry, have safely made the journey to his beguiling first novel The Transition: very funny, gimlet-eyed observation’ William Boyd, Guardian best summer books 2018

    ‘Richly enjoyable . . . what really makes this novel stand out is not the Black Mirror-style black comedy but the tenderly devastating portrait of mental illness. The dystopia turns out to be a love story after all’ Guardian

    ‘Very funny, compassionate and scathing. Just the ticket for fans of Jonathan Coe’ Laline Paull

    ‘Terrific. Clever and funny and a total page-turner to boot’ Nathan Filer

    ‘Disquieting and witty but with such tenderness at its core that it’s often heart-stopping. Gorgeous stuff. I devoured it’ Lisa McInerney, author of The Glorious Heresies

    ‘Extremely smart and extremely funny, Luke Kennard’s first novel is a brilliant dismantling of our corporatized century. It also features one of the most endearingly hapless heroes since Lucky Jim. In a world where everything real has been outsourced if it can’t be demolished, a book like The Transition is not just a ray of light – it’s utterly vital’ Paul Murray, author of Skippy Dies

    ‘Essential reading for generation rent. Funny, necessary and all too close to the bone’ Jenn Ashworth, author of The Friday Gospels

    ‘Completely gripping – a unique idea executed with verve, confidence and razor sharp wit’ Isy Suttie

    ‘Black Mirror with a lighter touch. A day-after-tomorrow novel that defines a generation’ Matthew De Abaitua, author of The Red Men

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