A sophisticated and conversation-starting novel of modern love, sexual
violence, and toxic inheritance from a brilliant new literary voice
When Kate Quaile meets Max Rippon in the first week of university, so
begins a life-changing friendship.
Over the next four years, the two become inseparable. For him, she
breaks her solitude; for her, he leaves his busy circles behind. But
knowing Max means knowing his family: the wealthy Rippons, all
generosity, social ease, and quiet repression. Theirs is a very
different world from Kate's own upbringing, and yet she finds herself
quickly drawn into their gilded lives, and the secrets that lie beneath.
Until one evening, at the Rippons home, just after graduation, her life
is shattered apart in a bedroom while a party goes on downstairs.
What Red Was is an incisive and mesmerizing novel about power,
privilege, and consent--one that fearlessly explores the effects of
trauma on the mind and body of a young woman, the tyrannies of memory,
the sacrifices involved in staying silent, and the courage in speaking
out. And when Kate does, it raises this urgent question: Whose story is
it now?
Praise for What Red Was
"[A] masterful, incisive debut... reminiscent of Donna Tartt or Edward
St. Aubyn.*" USA Today
*
"Dazzling. . . This is a book that succeeds in prying open our cultural
moment and laying it bare for scrutiny."--Alexandra Kleeman, author of
You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine
"One of the best books I've ever read about female rage and
transgression . . . at once incredibly timely and one for the
ages."--Lisa Gabriele, author of The Winters
"So assured, so confident in its voice, so skilful in its plotting and
characterisation that it seems like the work of a seasoned author . . .
an exciting new voice."--The Guardian (UK)
*
*"Powerful... handles its explosive plot with an admirable
delicacy"--Publishers Weekly
"Thoughtful and observant...Price is a novelist worth watching."
--Kirkus
"A confident and provocative study of wealth, sexual violence, and
complicated friendships . . . [What Red Was] is a strong debut by an
incredibly young author, an assured and challenging novel that suggests
an incipient talent worthy of notice."--The Irish Times
