Wrecked

From the author of the international bestseller ‘Wetlands’, a raw and taboo-breaking novel of sex and grief, obsession and death.

‘My therapist says I’m trying to escape fear through sex… I could easily have sex ten times a day.’

Elizabeth Kiehl is a devoted mother. A committed environmentalist. The ideal wife. So why is she so insecure? Because her daughter has worms? Because the planet is still doomed? Because visiting brothels with her husband makes her feel sick?

Or is it that if she stops thinking about absolutely everything else she will remember what happened to her family eight years ago? Wrecked is a raw, uncompromising and blackly comic portrayal of trauma, sexuality and one woman’s desperate attempt to cling to something like sanity.

Reviews

‘Roche definitely knows how to write an opening scene … We should celebrate a writer like Roche, whose voice is defiantly, shamelessly her own.’ Guardian

‘Even if, more recently, the erotic canon had not been diverted by the “mommy-porn” of Fifty Shades of Grey and its imitators … Roche puts dynamite under that new genre. ‘Wrecked’ is likely to become a cult classic, American Psycho by way of Catherine Millet, as Roche places domestic sex at the forefront of contemporary erotic literature.’ FT

‘A condemning commentary on the unrealistic and damaging pressures placed on women as wives and mothers. Roche's writing is as compelling and complex as it is salacious and explicit, expertly dissecting the basis of relationships to show that traditional ideals have no place in the modern marriage. This thought-provoking, original novel highlights the urgent need to liberate women from the shackles of gender stereotyping.’ Independent

‘Roche's potentially groundbreaking expansion of female subjectivity in fiction … Although the content may trouble many readers, Roche's particularly explicit brand of Molly Bloom-esque, serpentine inner monologue is worth a read.’ Publishers Weekly

‘There are things in this book that could even spark a new sexual revolution.’ Stern

‘With merciless precision Roche depicts shock, pain, lust, empathy, and her revenge fantasies and suicide plans . . . A startlingly radical striptease of the soul.’ Focus

About the author

Charlotte Roche was born in 1978 in High Wycombe, but was brought up and lives in Germany. She has been a highly respected presenter on the German equivalent of MTV. This is her second novel.