Girlcrush
The #1 Sunday Times Bestseller
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- 3,99 €
Publisher Description
'Dark, funny and wild.'
- Chloe Ashby, author of WET PAINT
'As ballsy as you'd hope' - Grazia
'The words just sizzle off the page' - Glamour
'Another triumph for feminism' - Red
'Set to be one of the best books of 2022' - Red
'A thrilling, bisexual romcom that doubles as a smart skewering of social media' - Evening Standard
'... enjoyable first novel...' '...easy-to-read story...' - Independent
'... the voice of her generation' '... the face of the future' - The Times Magazine
'It's Carrie Bradshaw's columns in Sex and the City on steroids.' - The Times
'Everything is IMMEDIATE. Emphasised.' - The Times
'It's a kind of rags-to-unexpected-riches-to-devastating-realisation-back-to-older-wiser-rags type tale, almost 18th century in progression, except set in a thoroughly modern, even slightly futuristic world where life online is even more all consuming than we know it now.' - Sunday Independent
'A hot debut novel with a dash of relatable existential dread' - Cosmopolitan
'Seriously hot' - Cosmopolitan
'Girlcrush is a funny, filthy and furious exploration of sexuality, identity and the expectations on us all. It's a rare combination - a page turner with a message.'
- Daisy Buchanan
'It feels like a ball of energy coming right for you. I loved this debut.' - Emma Gannon
GIRLCRUSH is a dark feminist retelling of Jekyll & Hyde by bestselling author Florence Given.
In Given's debut novel, we follow Eartha on a wild, weird and seductive modern-day exploration as she commences life as an openly bisexual woman whilst also becoming a viral sensation on Wonderland, a social media app where people project their dream selves online.
The distance between her online and offline self grows further and further apart until something dark happens that leads her into total self-destruction, forcing Eartha to make a choice; which version of herself should she kill off?
Warning this book does include storylines that some readers may find triggering.
*Also by Florence Given*
Women Don't Owe You Pretty
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The strange, sometimes sinister, social contract that comes part and parcel of being an influencer is something that Florence Given knows intimately. Shot to online fame at the age of 20 after launching a viral petition against a Netflix show deemed problematic, she uses her substantial platform to promote social activism, with a broadly feminist slant. Her debut novel, Girlcrush, is a Jekyll-and-Hyde depiction of two women, who are one and the same: the Eartha who finds the confidence to explore her sexuality after dumping her cheating boyfriend, and the Eartha who chronicles her fancies and foibles for a rabid audience on Wonderland, a social media network capable of creating overnight superstars…provided they stay plugged in. As the offline and online begin to bleed together, Eartha becomes increasingly detached from reality, destroying her relationships with her friends and burgeoning romantic prospects, but unable to give up on the promised dream, even after a harrowing experience puts her in danger. Given’s dramatic skewering of much of the mythology of her own rise to success lifts the lid on a predatory industry that picks up and discards women indiscriminately, how hypocrisy can seep into online activism and the toll that baring all to strangers on the internet can take on your mental health. This darkly twisted cautionary tale, with its underlying narrative of female liberation, is a must-read.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Given concocts a stylish but overloaded narrative in her second book-length outing, which deceptively purports to be a "hot, dark" modern retelling of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Given's 2021 Women Don't Owe You Pretty was a manifesto; this first-person tale of a wannabe artist becoming an internet influencer in the #MeToo era is a manifesto dressed in chick-lit clothes. After millennial collagist Eartha catches her DJ boyfriend, Mat, sleeping with groupies, she proclaims freedom and comes out as bisexual via a drunken video posted to the social media site Wonderland. Within hours, it's gone viral and she's contacted by E.V., an agent who promises to make her the next "bright shiny thing." Her rise to internet stardom is told in a great voice, but also a pedantry that seems ripped from Trump-era Twitter threads and oddly studded with 30-year-old cultural references. In the aftermath of an off-page rape, Eartha's real life and her online persona become further estranged as E.V. takes greater control over her social media. Readers shouldn't expect either a central romance or genre elements. Instead, those looking for a tale of personal growth that doubles as a furious exploration of the erosion of privacy in the internet age will be pleased.
