The Poet
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  • Published: 15 June 2022
  • ISBN: 9780857529220
  • Imprint: Doubleday
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $32.99

The Poet

Formats & editions
Paperback
1 Aug 2023
Tr. Paperback
15 Jun 2022
EBook
2 Jun 2022
Audiobook
2 Jun 2022
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A mesmerizing, provocative, pacy novel-in-verse about a young writer, her manipulative lover, and what happens when she's pushed to her limit.

I believe every word you say. That was always my mistake.

A PASSIONATE, PAGE-TURNING TALE OF DESTRUCTIVE LOVE AND FEMALE SOLIDARITY, FOR FANS OF THREE WOMEN AND ACTS OF DESPERATION.

'This is the book I have always needed, it is F*****G BRILLIANT and everyone should read it' Nikita Gill

'A beautiful, biting page-turner' Irish Times
Bright, promising Emma is entangled in a toxic romance with her old professor - and she's losing control.

Cruel, charming Tom is idolized by his students and peers - confident he holds all the cards.

In their small Oxford home, he manipulates and undermines her every thought and act. Soon, he will push her to the limit and she must decide: to remain quiet and submit, or to take her revenge.

Written in verse and charged with passion and anger, The Poet is a portrait of a deeply dysfunctional relationship, exploring coercive control, class and privilege. It is also a page-turning tale of female solidarity and survival.

'Brisk, disturbing and very satisfying' Daily Mail

  • Published: 15 June 2022
  • ISBN: 9780857529220
  • Imprint: Doubleday
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $32.99
Categories:

About the author

Louisa Reid

Louisa Reid is 35 years old, married with two young daughters and currently teaches English in a girls' school in Cambridge. She is originally from Cheshire, studied English at Oxford and has lived in London and Zurich. Her pupils are definitely not the inspiration for her characters in her novels but witnessing their passion for great fiction inspired her to write for young adults.

Also by Louisa Reid

Lies Like Love
Black Heart Blue
See all

Praise for The Poet

I devoured it both as a breath-taking, page-turning novel on betrayal and a series of startling poems, chiselled from bone. The Poet is going to e x p l o d e into 2022 and leave us all spilt and shuddering! Astounding book.

Helen Paris

A thunderstorm of female power with nods to the greatest poets of all time. Drop everything and read.

Ericka Waller

Superb . . . Raw, angry and utterly compelling . . . The writing is stunning - I hope it'll put verse novels on the map.

Hush - Five Unmissable Books for 2022

Brilliant and beautifully written. It'll have you raging and rejoicing till the very last page.

Manjeet Mann, winner of the Costa Children's Book Award 2021

This is the book I have always needed, it is F*****G BRILLIANT and everyone should read it.

Nikita Gill

A novel in verse about poetry, female desire and achievement, gender politics and revenge, it weeps, rages and triumphs in words as exquisite as emotion. Loved it.

Julie Cohen

A beautiful, biting page-turner... is it any different for young women, these days? Reid's novel provides -- as the best fiction does -- a nuanced, thought provoking answer to this question.

Irish Times

Brisk, disturbing and very satisfying

Daily Mail

We've never read anything quite like this before... the poetry sings so beautifully... you'll be completely submerged

Cosmopolitan

Written in verse and wildly original, this passionate tale of coercive control and female solidarity is nothing short of a work of art.

Zoella

Rage fuelled and propulsive The Poet is a ferocious force of a novel written in searingly potent verse. I adored it and can't stop thinking about it. Recommending to everyone .

Molly Aitken, author of The Island Child
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