‘Asking for It’ and ‘After the Silence’ fans rejoice! Louise O’Neill has announced her latest book and we’re already dying to read it!
The author has been on fire the last couple of years, with her ‘Asking for It’ being turned into a international sold out play, and her last novel ‘After the Silence’ becoming a bestseller almost instantly (there’s even talk of it being turned into a film!)
And now with the announcement of her sixth upcoming novel, O’Neill has sent fans into a tizzy – lockdown was clearly a creatively productive time for the 35-year-old West Cork native!
This book is reportedly another adult fiction piece – O’Neill was well-known for her YA novels before switching it up with ‘After the Silence’ – and it follows Samantha Miller, an influencer with 3 million followers and a newly released book that’s causing controversy.
Louise announced the news on Instagram this morning by revealing the books cover.
‘Who gets to tell the story?’ The author wrote. ‘Who do we choose to believe? Whose 'truth' is really a lie? ‘
She discussed how she’s always been obsessed with the idea of the influencer, the exploitation and power of wellness culture and how these ideas interact with feminism, sexuality and the culture of consent, and how they all come up in this newest book.
‘These are themes I’ve been preoccupied with for my entire career but with this book, I’ve pushed myself further than I have ever have before. It’s been both challenging and incredibly exciting to write…I feel very lucky to have found a new home at Transworld and I can’t wait for you all to meet Samantha Miller….’
We can’t wait to read all about her in this gorgeous book coming the 12th of May 2022! There will definitely be queues out the book shop doors for these ones ladies so be sure to preorder!
The official synopsis for the book reads, ‘For Samantha Miller’s young fans – her “girls” – she’s everything they want to be. She’s an oracle, telling them how to live their lives, how to be happy, how to find and honour their “truth”. And her career is booming: she’s just hit three million followers, her new book Chaste has gone straight to the top of the bestseller lists and she’s appearing at sell-out events. Determined to speak her truth and bare all to her adoring fans, she’s written an essay about her sexual awakening as a teenager, with her female best friend, Lisa. She’s never told a soul but now she’s telling the world. The essay goes viral.’
‘But then – years since they last spoke – Lisa gets in touch to say that she doesn’t remember it that way at all. Her memory of that night is far darker. It’s Sam’s word against Lisa’s – so who gets to tell the story? Whose “truth” is really a lie?’
With the likes of Marianne Keyes already heaping praise on the book, we think we may have found the first book on our summer 2022 reading list!
