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The Carrier
  • Published: 30 June 2026
  • ISBN: 9780857508133
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $34.99
Categories:

The Carrier

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
30 June 2026
Hardback
2 Aug 2026
EBook
2 July 2026
Audiobook
2 July 2026
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How much is your suffering worth? A conversation-starting, high-concept thriller for fans of Apple TV’s Severance and Jessamine Chan’s The School of Good Mothers.

Why should you suffer when she can do it for you?

A revolutionary company can free you from your unwanted emotions.


Jealousy, grief, despair. If you can afford to, you need never feel them again.


In your place is a Carrier – a woman who is paid to process your pain.


In a world full of suffering, there is no shortage of demand.


But this company has secrets. The true cost of your freedom is a Carrier’s life.


Would you let her pay the price?
  • Published: 30 June 2026
  • ISBN: 9780857508133
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $34.99
Categories:

About the author

Ruth Newton

Ruth Newton is a writer and campaign producer, working with charities and NGOs. The Carrier, her debut novel, was longlisted for BPA's first novel award, shortlisted for Hodderscape x The Science Museum's Debut Science Fiction award and won the Jericho Writers’ Friday Night Live competition. She lives in the North East with her husband and son.
portrait photo of Ruth Newton

Praise for The Carrier

The Carrier holds no punches. A fast-paced, prescient novel set in an all too familiar near-future, with a glimmer of hope to inspire each of us to step up and speak up.

Jodie Matthews, author of Meet Me at the Surface

A breath-taking debut and essential reading for our times.

Emily Buchanan

A clever debut.

The Times

An acute allegory for emotional labour, and the subtle yet oppressive toll this gendered reality takes on our lives and bodies.

Rachel Donald

Gripping.

Vogue

I absolutely loved this novel - I finished it in one weekend. The entire novel is a call to arms for women.

Marie O'Hare

I so enjoyed it: smart, absorbing and disturbingly timely.

Erica Wagner

Ideal summer reading.

New Scientist

Newton creates a world that's frighteningly real with a well-crafted spotlight on women's emotional labour. Equal parts thought-provoking and rage-inducing The Carrier is a propulsive thriller you'll remember long after the last page. An incredibly accomplished debut.

Asia Mackay

Thought provoking.

The Guardian

Timely, innovative and fantastically compelling.

Pandora Sykes

Unsettling.

The Independent

Your next must read.

Cosmopolitan UK