The new novel from the WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION longlisted and DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD shortlisted author of Remote Sympathy

“Chidgey is a find.”-TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

“A writer of formidable resources, a deft stylist possessed of uncanny imaginative acuity.”-THE GUARDIAN

Like every other girl in her class, twelve-year-old Justine is drawn to her glamorous, charismatic new teacher and longs to be her pet. However, when a thief begins to target the school, Justine’s sense that something isn’t quite right grows ever stronger. With each twist of the plot, this gripping story of deception and the corrosive power of guilt takes a yet darker turn. Young as she is, Justine must decide where her loyalties lie.

Set in New Zealand in the 1980s and probing themes of racism, misogyny and the oppressive reaches of Catholicism, Pet will take a rightful place next to other classic portraits of childhood betrayal: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Go-Between, Heavenly Creatures and Au Revoir Les Enfants among them.

Author Biography

Catherine Chidgey is an award-winning and bestselling New Zealand novelist and short-story writer. Her first novel, In a Fishbone Church, won the Betty Trask Award. Golden Deeds was Time Out’s book of the year, a Best Book in the LA Times Book Review and a Notable Book in the New York Times Book Review. Her novel Remote Sympathy was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and her most recent novel, The Axeman’s Carnival, was the winner of the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2023 Ockham NZ Book Awards.

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