Open Season

Every relationship has rules. What if they all changed?

Hura and Cillian have a happy, secure marriage and are on the brink of planning a family. But when Hura's teaching career gets derailed, they decide it's time to explore a fantasy: opening up their relationship.

Roses has never been monogamous. Her connection with elusive James-who works all hours as a junior doctor-is electric, and they're falling for each other. But both have secrets that make intimacy feel dangerous, and in a bid to reassert her independence, Roses suggests they sleep with other people.

When these two couples collide, life shifts on its axis and starts to spin out of control. As Roses and James fight to keep the past from overwhelming them, and Cillian and Hura test the limits of trust, they must all decide which lines to draw-and which to cross.

A passionate deconstruction of the complexities of sex, love, honesty and betrayal, OPEN SEASON marks Cassie Werber out as a major new talent.

A breathtaking novel that gets under the skin of the complexities of love, sex and human nature. The writing seduces and sings, and the characters are devastatingly real. An astonishing debut. Katie Bishop, author of THE GIRLS OF SUMMER
A perceptive book about intimacy and desire that feels zingy, original, fresh. To read it is to tease out together with the characters the many ways of loving and living a life. Chloë Ashby, author of WET PAINT
I really loved this novel. It is tender, shimmering, elegant, and true. It paints a clear, lucid picture of a group of people trying to work out how to love and live in an honest, authentic way; how to balance freedom and autonomy; how to relate fully to another without compromising our sense of self. It is thoughtful and sensual, sexy and cerebral. The prose is beautifully honed, clear and precise. I felt totally caught up in the characters' lives and felt that the way you handled the narrative tension and kept the reader guessing about the characters' back stories and who wanted what from whom was expertly done." Laura Barnett, author of THE VERSIONS OF US
An intoxicating debut, with layers of secrets, love and sex. The perfect book to kick start any dinner party talk. Sarah Gwonyoma, @WhatSarahReadNext
Werber is a remarkable observer of character. A glittering and gripping exploration of what makes us tick, Open Season reveals the anatomy of our most intimate relationships, not least of all, with ourselves. It achieves that rare feat: it is both achingly smart, and, at times, astonishingly hot... A masterclass in writing about sex Tyler Wetherall, author of Amphibian
A rare, special book that speaks to the complex beauty of building a life on your own terms... A gripping drama in the London non-monogamy scene. Eye-opening, gripping, and sexy. You'll want to devour it. Sonnet, author of SUBMIT

A beautifully nuanced deep dive into modern loving relationships

Anoushka Warden, author of I'M ACTUALLY AMAZING
Beautifully written and captivating Marianne Power, author of LOVE ME! and HELP ME!

Cassie Werber is a writer, journalist and podcaster.

She was senior reporter at Quartz, covering topics as diverse as workplace equity and climate change, and appearing on CNN, Sky News, the BBC, and NPR. She has written for The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and the Guardian, as well as other international publications. She was also co-director of popular journalism and tech meetup Hacks Hackers London.

As co-founder of theatre company ChoppedLogic she co-wrote and performed in Paramour; wrote and directed The Runaround, and wrote and directed Double Negative, which reached the third round of Soho Theatre's Verity Bargate award and was Time Out Critics' Choice. Her screenplays ANMER and REWILD were both shortlisted for 4Screenwriting. She trained in journalism in Denmark, Amsterdam and at City University, London; in theatre at Central School of Speech and Drama; and in English Literature at Clare College, Cambridge.

Open Season is her first novel.

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