Wreck
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Transworld Publishers Ltd
Published:29th Jan '26
Should be back in stock very soon
This hardback is available in other editions too:
- Paperback£9.99(9781804997505)
- Hardback - Signed Edition£16.99(9781529959697-SD)

The NEW YORK TIMES bestseller. A wonderful novel full of laughter and heart, about marriage, family and what happens when life doesn’t go as planned…
'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
'I LOVE her work... the antidote to these times' MARIAN KEYES
'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 Fundamentally
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Rachel (Rocky) is seemingly living her best life as the irreverent, funny beating heart of her family. Her ageing father is his unique, adorable self; daughter Willa is prone to bouts of existential angst whilst berating the fact that her mother has zero filter; husband Nick is steady, logical, sometimes infuriating.
They are messy, they are flawed, they are completely, ridiculously normal.
And like most normal people, Rocky worries about what might happen next. So when a former classmate of her son Jamie dies in a seemingly random accident, Rocky becomes obsessed.
For if accidents can happen – and they do – is it truly safe to love anyone?
Fresh, honest, laugh out loud funny and genuinely relatable, WRECK follows Rocky and her family through one rollercoaster year as they negotiate the unpredictable and beautiful messiness of life.
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Readers say:
'Wreck feels like Newman was writing directly to me. And what's so impressive is, I think many, many, many readers will feel like it was just for them too' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'Feels like meeting up with old friends' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'It’s like Catherine Newman knows exactly how I feel' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'I feel seen every time I read [Catherine Newman's] words' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'There is just some kind of magic in Catherine Newman’s writing that makes me want to dog-ear every page' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Reviews say:
'Hugely enjoyable, absolutely real and thoughtful...Newman has an Ephron-esque gift for...
Beautiful, funny, wry, relatable and uplifting…I 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 145mm x 26mm
Weight: 364g
256 pages