Wreck

Catherine Newman author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Transworld Publishers Ltd

Published:29th Jan '26

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Wreck cover

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

'Beautiful, funny, wry, relatable and uplifting… I LOVE her work, it's so clever and comforting and the antidote to these times' MARIAN KEYES

'The kind of book that pulls up a chair, pours the wine, and dives deep...like spending hours with the friend who sees your mess and loves you more for it.' ALISON ESPACH, author of The Wedding People

'Gorgeously human, tender-hearted, and delightfully funny' NUSSAIBAH YOUNIS, author of Fundamentally

'Infectiously funny and surprisingly moving, Wreck reminds us that we are each, in our way, trying to make sense of the big things with some very small tools' RACHEL JOYCE, author of The Homemade God

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Rocky, Nick, Willa and Jamie. A normal loving, anxious, messy, relatable, family.

Rocky has her own her way of processing disasters: 1. This could happen to us. 2. This couldn’t happen to us. And then there’s a secret third column: ‘This could happen to us unless I am very careful/ superstitious/ grateful…’

So when a former classmate of Jamie’s dies in a seemingly random accident, Rocky becomes obsessed. She's also developed a niggling medical condition that won't go away. On the surface, she is still living her best life as the irreverent, funny beating heart of her family. Her father is his unique, adorable self; Willa is prone to bouts of existential angst whilst berating the fact that her mother has zero filter; Nick is steady, logical, sometimes infuriating.

But if accidents can happen – and they do – is it safe to love anyone?

Laugh out loud funny and deeply emotional, WRECK follows Rocky and her family through one rollercoaster year as they share the unpredictable, beautiful messiness of life.

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‘The new queen of the bittersweet novel…balancing genuine laughs with emotional weight and a clear-eyed view of modern family life’ Independent

Darkly funny, achingly emotional, this story explores life’s wreckage and motherhood’s enduring love … an irreverent yet tender read’ Woman & Home

‘Insightful and totally relatableGood Housekeeping

‘I’m in awe of Newman’s talent for finding humour in life’s disasters and indignities. Seriously funny’ Saga


PRAISE FOR SANDWICH & WE ALL...

Beautiful, funny, wry, relatable and upliftingI LOVE her work, it's so clever and comforting and the antidote to these times. * Marian Keyes *
Wreck is the kind of book that pulls up a chair, pours the wine, and dives deep—equal parts hilarious, sharp, and achingly sincere. It’s like spending hours with the friend who sees your mess and loves you more for it. I didn’t just read it—I felt known by it. A luminous, laugh-out-loud triumph by Newman. * Alison Espach, New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding People *
I loved it! A gorgeously human, tender-hearted, and delightfully funny exploration of the anxieties that beset all of us, and the loving relationships and irrepressible joy that gets us through. * Nussaibah Younis, author of international bestseller Fundamentally *
Another heart wrencher from the incomparable Catherine Newman. She writes about the minutiae of family, love and why we are here with such joy, humour and emotion it almost hurts. I laughed out loud along the way, then the final page had me in tears. Wrecked me! * Claire Daverley, author of Talking at Night *
How comforting, how satisfying, and how delicious to be once again in the world of Rocky and her family where everyday life bangs against potential disaster and somehow muddles its way through. Infectiously funny and surprisingly moving, Wreck reminds us that we are each, in our way, trying to make sense of the big things with some very small tools - and that love in the end is the thing that saves us. * Rachel Joyce *
Catherine Newman is the funniest and most tender hearted writer alive. I hope people are reading Wreck for years to come. Rocky and everyone in her universe shows as what humans can do and be when we're at our very best. * Daisy Buchanan, author of Insatiable *
Endorsing a new Catherine Newman novel feels a bit like endorsing puppies or chocolate cake. It's a new Catherine Newman novel. Of course you want to read it. Wreck is a delight. .. Newman's prose is laugh-out-loud funny. It's also profound. I underlined so many passages in this treasure of a novel. I * J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author of The Cliffs *
Catherine Newman’s new novel is a rare thing: both laugh-out-loud funny and deeply attuned to the quiet devastations of illness, grief, and family life. In Rocky... Newman gives us a narrator whose fierce intelligence and generous heart make even the most ordinary moments shimmer with grace. * Meghan O'Rourke, New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Kingdom *
Newman excels at showing how sorrow and joy coexist in everyday life. She masterfully balances a modern exploration of grief with truly laugh-out-loud lines . . . . A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life. * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *
Catherine Newman has my heart . . . . Newman is my dream writer, and she channels the perfect cocktail of humanity into her characters, especially Rocky. Rocky is funny and dry and emotional and sometimes crazy and always loving, so loving, of her family, even as she struggles and panics. It’s a gift to get to be on the quest with her, and learn alongside her, about how to be alive, to be a person, to be good, to be worthy. * Lithub (Most Anticipated Books) *

ISBN: 9781529959697

Dimensions: 223mm x 146mm x 25mm

Weight: 368g

256 pages