Plaything

(Paperback)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

A chilling spin on girl-meets-boy, in which jealousy and obsession cost the ultimate price... 'I just loved it - it truly wedged itself into my brain. Absolutely vile and brilliant. Plaything is an unhinged melody, and it will serenade fans of the darkest narratives.' ALICE SLATER, author of Death of a Bookseller Anna is smart. Smarter than you, probably. But when she falls for the beautiful, enigmatic Caden, her need to get under his skin, to truly know him becomes overpowering. Anna's new life in Cambridge is full of promise - she's the top student in her PhD cohort, she has great friends and she has met an exhaustingly attractive man - but something is a little off. Perhaps it's the routine violence of her lab work with animals, or maybe it's something to do with her boyfriend's icy reserve but it seems there is a kind of menace hiding beneath the Cambridge dream. When Anna and Caden's lives become tightly entangled, her obsession with Caden's seemingly ever-present ex-girlfriend reaches a dangerous pitch... Just how far will she go to satiate her curiosity ------------------- FROM THE REVIEWS FOR BEA SETTON'S BERLIN 'Terrific . . . an unsettling and compelling read' Observer 'I was completely absorbed' FRANCESCA REECE, author of Voyeur 'Compelling, raw and thrillingly strange' MONA AWAD, author of Bunny 'Cinematically vivid, and refreshingly honest' LISA HALLIDAY, author of Asymmetry

Reviews

Setton offers a slow drip-feed of apprehension and unease as the novel swells towards a satisfying and pleasingly unpredictable climax * Daily Mail *
A gloriously tense tale of obsession . . . At times the reader feels like Setton's plaything, but she does it so well, we don't really mind. * Financial Times *
A cold novel, then, but one that will remain with me. The surprises work, a twist towards the end left me uttering an expletive aloud, and the final page made me shudder. Animal lovers, however, be warned. Its not just the mice who suffer. -- John Boyne * Irish Times *
There are twists and turns and moments of real poignancy in this smart, dark academia book * My Weekly *
I just loved it it truly wedged itself into my brain. Absolutely vile and brilliant. Plaything is an unhinged melody, and it will serenade fans of the darkest narratives. In this utterly gripping, stomach-turning and explosive novel, obsession and jealousy are heightened by the claustrophobia, paranoia and loneliness of lockdown. I couldnt leave it alone, right until the bitter, bloody end. * Alice Slater, author of Death of a Bookseller *
Full of sticky moral situations punctuated with gory details * Rose Cleary, author of How to Be a French Girl *
Fascinating and mysterious, the darkness and depth of this daring novel will linger long after reading. Big big fan. * Ashley Hickson-Lovence, author of Your Show *
A seductive tale of infatuation and the complexities of romance. Settons talent for unravelling the love-drunk narrative is thrilling. * Amy Twigg, author of Spoilt Creatures *
An exquisite deep dive into jealousy. * Sainsbury's Magazine *

Author Bio

Bea Setton was born in France and has lived in Paris, the USA and Berlin, the city which inspired her critically acclaimed debut novel. She then studied at Cambridge for a master's in Philosophy & Theology, and this inspired the setting of her second book, Plaything. Bea currently divides her time between Berlin and Oxford, Mississippi, where she is writing her third novel.