Heatstroke

'Barkworth is excruciatingly good... An impressive first book' OBSERVER

A COSMOPOLITAN BEST BOOKS OF SUMMER 2020 pick

HEAT magazine's READ OF THE WEEK - 'the evocative one'

'I wanted to stay within its pages forever' CLARE MACKINTOSH

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This summer burns with secrets...

It is too hot to sleep. To work. To be questioned time and again by the police.

At the beginning of a stifling, sultry summer, everything shifts irrevocably when Lily doesn't come home one afternoon.

Rachel is Lily's teacher. Her daughter Mia is Lily's best friend. The girls are fifteen - almost women, still children.

As Rachel becomes increasingly fixated on Lily's absence, she finds herself breaking fragile trusts and confronting impossible choices she never thought she'd face.

It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

Intoxicating and compulsive, Heatstroke is a darkly gripping, thought-provoking novel of crossed boundaries, power and betrayal, that plays with expectations at every turn.

FOR FANS OF ZOE HELLER, EMMA CLINE, EXPECTATION AND MY DARK VANESSA.

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'Stylish and sensual' KIRAN MILLWOOD HARGRAVE

'A summer sizzler... with twists, turns and revelations in all the right places' EVENING STANDARD

'What to read next IF YOU LOVED THREE WOMEN by Lisa Taddeo' WHISTLES newsletter

'A thrilling look at mothers and daughters, adolescence, sex, suburbia and secrets' NELL FRIZZELL

'Sexy, sensual, difficult, provocative...definitely one of the best reads of the summer' LAURA JANE WILLIAMS

'Pulls you into its sweaty interior and keeps you gripped' RENEE KNIGHT

'I couldn't tear myself away' ERIN KELLY

'I am addicted!... A gripping, dark and twisty read with beautiful, poetic writing' EMMA GANNON

'Compulsive, sticky and full of gorgeous writing' KIRSTIN INNES

'A scorching tale of obsession, betrayal and the wounds that mothers and daughters inflict on each other' TAMMY COHEN

“A stunning new voice in contemporary fiction... Perfect sentences swim gracefully across every page, overlaying a narrative that delights in wrong-footing the readers' assumptions. I couldn't tear myself away from it”

Barkworth is excruciatingly good at encapsulating that point in life where Mia and Lily stand - on the edge of growing up... An impressive first book - Observer

A sultry, stifling debut exploring power, consent and womanhood - Cosmopolitan

Gripping and intensely atmospheric... beautifully explores the complicated relationship between mothers and teenage daughters... you won't want to put this down - Heat

Barkworth has a pinsharp eye for detail...it's propulsive, thought-provoking and atmospheric - Daily Mail

Hazel grew up in Stirlingshire and North Yorkshire before studying English at Oxford. She then moved to London where she spent her days working as a cultural consultant, and her nights dancing in a pop band at glam rock clubs. Hazel is a graduate of both the Oxford University MSt in Creative Writing and the Curtis Brown Creative Novel-Writing course. She now works in Oxford, where she lives with her partner. Heatstroke is her first novel.

'Painfully real, and so beautifully written I wanted to stay within its pages forever' CLARE MACKINTOSH 'Stylish and sensual' KIRAN MILLWOOD HARGRAVE 'A thrilling look at mothers and daughters, adolescence, sex, suburbia and secrets' NELL FRIZZELL 'Sexy, sensual, difficult, provocative...definitely one of the best reads of the summer' LAURA JANE WILLIAMS 'Pulls you into it s sweaty interior and keeps you gripped' RENEE KNIGHT --- A dazzling debut novel of a dark love affair, set to ignite debate in summer 2020. FOR FANS OF ZOE HELLER, EMMA CLINE, EXPECTATION AND MY DARK VANESSA . --- The summer burns with secrets... It is too hot to sleep. To work. To be questioned time and again by the police. At the beginning of a stifling, sultry summer, everything shifts irrevocably when Lily doesn't come home one afternoon.Rachel is Lily's teacher. Her daughter Mia is Lily's best friend. The girls are fifteen - almost women, still children. As Rachel becomes increasingly fixated on Lily's absence, she finds herself breaking fragile trusts and confronting impossible choices she never thought she'd face. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. Intoxicating and compulsive, Heatstroke is a darkly gripping, thought-provoking novel of crossed boundaries, power and betrayal, that plays with expectations at every turn. --- 'I couldn't tear myself away' ERIN KELLY 'Compulsive, sticky and full of gorgeous writing' KIRSTIN INNES 'A scorching tale of obsession, betrayal and the wounds that mothers and daughters inflict on each other in the name of love' TAMMY COHEN

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