Year of the Rat

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

*SUNDAY TIMES AWARD WINNER*

The British far right is working to dismantle our democracy. This shocking, eye-opening undercover journey reveals who they are, how they operate and how they are normalising extreme ideologies including eugenics.

In summer 2024, riots swept England in the biggest wave of far-right violence in the post-war period. But far-right activity takes many other forms as well, all of them dangerous.

Journalist Harry Shukman knows the dangers all too well: he’d gone undercover to infiltrate these groups. For over a year, he carefully attached his hidden lapel camera and pretended to be an extremist named Chris.

We follow Shukman as he hangs out in the pub with a secretive community network, canvasses with political party Britain First and attends a neo-Nazi conference. We meet a circle of Holocaust deniers, a race science organisation with a major Silicon Valley investor and right-wing think tanks supported by Conservative policymakers. What we witness is hard to believe, or stomach.

Year of the Rat is a gripping and urgent exposé – nail-bitingly tense, darkly absurd and utterly chilling. Risking his safety and sanity, Shukman has removed the far right’s terrifyingly everyday mask. Now, we must ensure it stays off.
‘Important and courageous’ James O’Brien
‘Compelling…[Shukman] is to be commended for his efforts, which must have taken courage and determination’ Observer
‘A horribly compelling account…What he exposes is both petrifying and sometimes surprising, and is related with admirable compassion, humanity and even humour’ Bookseller

© Harry Shukman 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Critics Review

‘Important and courageous’
James O’Brien.
[A] courageous and diligent book… a close and gripping inspection of the character of the far right and threat it poses… Shukman’s reporting is bold and assiduous, and provides rare documentary insight
New Statesman
Boldly and bravely, Shukman achieves something only the best novels manage. He sits with far-right activists long enough to understand them, and in doing so, makes the movement far more frightening and far more human than any polemic ever could
Lea Ypi
Year of the Rat reads like the perfect thriller. Nail bitingly tense, darkly funny, unexpectedly compassionate and urgently important. I was caught up with it from the first page
Esther Freud
The rise of the far-right is one of biggest and most challenging stories around, and Harry tells it with clarity, compassion and humour. There are episodes in the book that could be set pieces in a fine novel, they really stay with you. And I found his personal bravery humbling and inspiring
Sathnam Sanghera
Year of the Rat is that rare thing: investigative journalism with the nerve of a thriller and the wit of a great piece of reportage… Courageous, sharply observed and very timely
Johanna Thomas-Corr
'Anyone who wants to understand British politics has to read this book.'
Grace Blakeley
[An] excellent investigation into the underworld of the British far right… There is…an immense value in the intimacy of Shukman’s account
Times Literary Supplement
‘This undercover expose of far right extremism in the UK is truly gripping. Unputdownable.’
Otto English
Compelling… [Shukman] is to be commended for his efforts, which must have taken courage and determination
Observer

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