The Outcast
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  • Published: 1 May 2010
  • ISBN: 9781407013152
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 464

The Outcast

Formats & editions
EBook
1 May 2010
Paperback
1 Oct 2008
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This bestselling novel of family, love, passion and violence is reissued to coincide with the publication of Sadie's major new novel The Snakes

‘If you liked Atonement by Ian McEwan, you'll love this’ Harper's Bazaar
The bestselling novel from the author of The Snakes, The Outcast is a powerful portrait of unexpected love and treacherous charades against the backdrop of a sleepy post-war English village

August 1957. Lewis Aldridge, straight out of jail, stands alone at a Surrey railway station.

He’s returned to the village where he grew up: the village where, a decade earlier, tragedy tore his family apart, leaving him to a troubled adolescence without a mother and with a father he barely knew.

Now, the only person who understands him is Kit, daughter of a bullying local businessman. Soon they realise that to forge their own futures, they must first confront the darkest secrets of their past.

As family, love, passion, sex and violence become ever more so intertwined, can Kit and Lewis find their way back to each other amidst the chaos?

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‘A tragic account of the devastating effects of parental abuse and the redemptive power of true love’ Guardian

'In the tradition of Remains of the Day...a passionate and deeply suspenseful novel’ Margot Livesey

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WINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORANGE PRIZE FOR FICTION
  • Published: 1 May 2010
  • ISBN: 9781407013152
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 464
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About the author

Sadie Jones

Sadie Jones is a novelist and screenwriter. Her first novel, The Outcast (‘Devastatingly good’, Daily Mail) won the Costa First Novel Award in 2008 and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. It was also a Richard and Judy Summer Reads number one bestseller and adapted for BBC Television. Her second novel, Small Wars (‘Outstanding’, The Times; ‘One of the best books about the English at war ever’, Joel Morris), was published in 2009, and longlisted for the Orange Prize. Her third, in 2012, was The Uninvited Guests (‘A shimmering comedy of manners and disturbing commentary on class... a brilliant novel’, Ann Patchett) followed by Fallout in 2014 (‘Intoxicating and immersive’, The Sunday Times).

portrait photo of Sadie Jones

Also by Sadie Jones

Amy and Lan
The Snakes
Fallout
The Uninvited Guests
Small Wars
See all

Praise for The Outcast

An elegant, subtle, haunting novel that stayed with me long after I finished it. Sadie Jones has a long literary future ahead of her

Tracy Chevalier

The prose is elegant and spare, but the story it reveals is raw and explosive... Devastatingly good'

Eithne Farry, Daily Mail

Jones's story is imbued with brooding atmosphere and drama. Understated and elegantly narrated with attention to period detail, this is a gripping love story with a twist. If you liked Atonement by Ian McEwan, you'll love this

Harper's Bazaar

Eminently readable first novel....reads like a thriller, the tension and menace build expertly...a powerful, promising first novel

Financial Times

She writes with simmering intensity... particularly strong on atmosphere... Jones uses small, startling phrases to convey depths of passion and information and she can make seemingly innocuous passages radiate beauty

Sunday Telegraph

A dark but beautifully written, heart-wringing suspense tale... The claustrophobic, menacing atmosphere of Sadie Jones's page-turning debut never lets up, and that's admirable enough, but it's more than narrative tension that makes the novel special. Her writing is deeply affecting... the quality of the writing and the desire to see justice done keep one reading avidly

Independent on Sunday

Controlled, insightful first novel... Comparisons with Ian McEwan are inevitable, but Jones's assured, compassionate writing is satisfyingly original

Guardian

This hotly-tipped debut certainly delivers. The prose is clean and clear; so disciplined and spare

Independent

Sadie Jones proves she's no novice when it comes to poignant prose with this, her debut novel... The sense of mounting suspense coupled with the beautifully drawn characterisation makes this a novel that's guaranteed to get right under your skin

Glamour

This elegantly written debut novel brings to life both her alienated and damaged protagonist and the small minded community that condemns him

Sunday Times

The writing is impressive from the start, both succinct and fluent

TLS

Sadie Jones' take on an introverted and self-destructive teen is fresh and believable... An assured and engaging debut ****

Metro

My Life in Books: 'It's an incredible, dark, emotional story.

Fay Ripley, Easy Living

Beautifully crafted, wonderfully filmic, very real and emotional. It keeps you guessing. All you want in a book

Nathaniel Parker, Daily Express

The prose is elegant and spare, but the story it reveals is raw and explosive... Devastatingly good'

Eithne Farry, Daily Mail

Febrile and atmospheric

Good Book Guide