Image of Olivia Rodrigo, with books that match the themes of her songs.

Image of Olivia Rodrigo

Features

What to read based on your favourite Olivia Rodrigo song

From the bestselling author of Elizabeth is Missing

Whistle in the Dark

Jen has finally got her daughter home. 
But why does fifteen-year-old Lana still feel lost? 
 
When Lana goes missing for four desperate days and returns refusing to speak of what happened, Jen fears the very worst. She thinks she's failed as a mother, that her daughter is beyond reach and that she must do something - anything - to bring her back. 
 
The family returns to London where everyone but Jen seems happy to carry on as normal. Jen's husband Hugh thinks she's going crazy - and their eldest daughter Meg is tired of Lana getting all the attention. But Jen knows Lana has changed, and can't understand why. 
 
Does the answer lie in those four missing days? 
And how can Jen find out? 
 
'As gripping as Elizabeth is Missing' Elle 
 
'Utterly compelling' Rosamund Lupton 
 
'[A] satisfying, cathartic mystery' Jenny Colgan 
 
'A compelling modern family drama with witty and wonderful characters. Utter bliss' Nina Stibbe, bestselling author of Love, Nina 
 
'Intriguing and entertaining' Observer

A compelling modern family drama with witty and wonderful characters. Utter bliss.

A beautiful exploration of mental health and love

Utterly compelling and insightful, I was drawn into this family in crisis from the first chapter of this unflinchingly honest and beautifully written novel

Rosamund Lupton, bestselling author of 'Sister'

I adored the forensic detail of Healey's writing and the wry, sharp take on millenial family life

Oozing with tension and written with captivating brilliance

At once an absorbing thriller and a beautifully observed study of the relationship between mother and teenage daughter

I don't know anyone else who writes like this. Emma Healey's voice soars, sings and startles as she takes you right under the skin of her characters. She 'magics' the ordinary into the extraordinary and, just as impressively, transposes the extraordinary to the ordinary. Unforgettable.

Jane Corry, bestselling author of 'My Husband's Wife'

This novel is a beautiful and rare thing - a page turning thriller with all the pain, warmth and humour of authentic family life portrayed. I absolutely loved it.

Kate Hamer, author of 'The Girl in the Red Coat'

Claire Fuller, author of 'Our Endless Numbered Days'

Emma Healey grew up in London and completed her first degree in bookbinding. She then worked for libraries, bookshops, art galleries and universities before studying for the MA in Creative Writing at UEA in 2010. She is the author of Whistle in the Dark, and Elizabeth is Missing, which was a Sunday Times Bestseller, won the Costa First Novel Award 2014, and was made into a BBC film starring Glenda Jackson. She lives in Norwich with her husband, daughter and cat, and regularly volunteers for Vision Norfolk with a group of visually impaired, and incredibly imaginative, creative writers.

When Lana goes missing for four desperate days and returns refusing to speak of what happened, Jen fears the very worst. She thinks she's failed as a mother, that her daughter is beyond reach and that she must do something - anything - to bring her back. 
 
The family returns to London where everyone but Jen seems happy to carry on as normal. Jen's husband Hugh thinks she's going crazy - and their eldest daughter Meg is tired of Lana getting all the attention. But Jen knows Lana has changed, and can't understand why. 
 
Does the answer lie in those four missing days? 
And how can Jen find out?

Elizabeth is Missing

THE BOOK THAT INSPIRED THE MAJOR BBC DRAMA STARRING BAFTA AWARD-WINNING ACTRESS GLENDA JACKSON 
 
How do you solve a mystery when you can't remember the clues? 
 
Maud is forgetful. She makes a cup of tea and doesn't remember to drink it. She goes to the shops and forgets why she went. Sometimes her home is unrecognizable - or her daughter Helen seems a total stranger. 
 
But there's one thing Maud is sure of: her friend Elizabeth is missing. The note in her pocket tells her so. And no matter who tells her to stop going on about it, to leave it alone, to shut up, Maud will get to the bottom of it. 
 
Because somewhere in Maud's damaged mind lies the answer to an unsolved seventy-year-old mystery. One everyone has forgotten about. 
 
Everyone, except Maud . . . 
 
 
'A thrillingly assured, haunting and unsettling novel, I read it at a gulp' Deborah Moggach, author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 
 
'Elizabeth Is Missing will stir and shake you: the most likeably unreliable of narrators, real mystery at its compassionate core...' Emma Donoghue, author of Room 
 
'Resembling a version of Memento written by Alan Bennett' Daily Telegraph 
 
'One of those mythical beasts, the book you cannot put down' Jonathan Coe, author of The Rotters Club 
 
'Every bit as compelling as the frenzied hype suggests. Gripping, haunting' Observer

The novel is both a gripping detective yarn and a haunting depiction of mental illness, but also more poignant and blackly comic than you might expect from that description... perhaps Healey's greatest achievement is the flawless voice she creates for Maud.

A compelling mystery that capture the experience of Maud, a highly memorable elderly woman losing her memory

A thrillingly assured, haunting and unsettling novel, I read it at a gulp

'Elizabeth is missing', reads the note in Maud's pocket in her own handwriting. 
 
Lately, Maud's been getting forgetful. She keeps buying peach slices when she has a cupboard full, forgets to drink the cups of tea she's made and writes notes to remind herself of things. But Maud is determined to discover what has happened to her friend, Elizabeth, and what it has to do with the unsolved disappearance of her sister Sukey, years back, just after the war. 
 
A fast-paced mystery with a wonderful leading character: Maud will make you laugh and cry, but she certainly won't be forgotten.

Emma Healey

Taut, compulsive, and unsettling ... SWEAT had me holding my breath until the final, brilliant end

Sweat will keep you guessing until the very last page…

Will have you glued to the story through every twist and turn. I absolutely loved it!

Part pulsing psychological thriller, part subversive meditation on the way we use (and abuse) our bodies, part noir-ish twisted revenge fantasy, SWEAT is like nothing I’ve ever read before. So addictive it made me miss a tube stop, so unsettling it made me think twice about going to the gym!

An inspired set-up. A clever dynamic that paves the way for a cat-and-mouse thriller. Propulsive

A maze-like game of revenge. Unsettling. Blends a critique of wellness culture with a slow-burn feminist thriller

Emma Healey's tale of control and revenge will have you hooked till the final page

If you spend all of January trying to avoid diet culture, then you need to read this book

A modern thriller about revenge, self-discipline, and control

Taut and twisty ... claustrophobic psychological tale ... becomes a slow-burn revenge thriller. Takes full advantage of shifting perspectives and disorientating power dynamics as acts of retribution escalate

Engaging and accessible ... Sweat's characters will get under your skin. Cleverly captures the insidious slow burn of coercive control. Healey's greatest achievement is to show us how, given the right - or rather wrong - circumstances, what happened to Cassie could happen to any of us

Sweaty, twisty thriller ... compelling tale of cat and mouse and boot camp hell

Wow - this was a one reading session to grapple all that goes within this twisty novel

A mix of thriller and revenge novel that sees the underdog gasping

Healey has done her research ... Surprisingly tense

Page-turning, unsettling thriller ... with twists and turns galore ... You'll be left wanting more with each paragraph. Brilliantly written, difficult to put down

Sweat is sure to get your pulse racing

Compelling ... There is serious core to Sweat as Cassie's obsession builds, and its sensational ending explores just how far coercive control can take you

it is Healey's skill as a writer that allows her to turn personal experiences, no matter how painful, into work that is sharp and troubling, but also a lively read

Sweat is not a comfortable read... the portrait of coercive control rings devastatingly true, necessarily expanding our understanding of the different forms domestic abuse can take beyond just physical violence...Healey deliberately complicates ideas of sympathy and likeability; of power and victimhood...Sweat may not make you want to join [a gym], but it will definitely get your heart rate up

FROM THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR 
 
'An inspired set-up. A clever dynamic that paves the way for a cat-and-mouse thriller. Propulsive.' SUNDAY TIMES 
 
'A maze-like game of revenge. Unsettling. Blends a critique of wellness culture with a slow-burn feminist thriller.' OBSERVER 
 
'If you spend all of January trying to avoid diet culture, then you need to read this book.' COSMOPOLITAN 
 
All Liam ever wanted was to help me reach my full potential. And he always knew what was best. Until the day he pushed me far beyond my limits, and I walked out of our flat and away from our relationship to good. 
 
Now, two years on, I am stronger, fitter, healthier than ever before. And then I see him – Liam – those green eyes, those stirring muscles. Something inside me flips. I want revenge, and I’m willing to do almost anything to get it. 
 
I hold the power now. 
 
It’s Liam’s turn to sweat. 
 
'Will have you glued to the story through every twist and turn. I absolutely adored it!' KATE HAMER, bestselling author of The Girl in the Read Coat 
 
'Sweat is like nothing I've ever read before. So addictive it made me miss a tube stop, so unsettling it made me think twice about going to the gym!' SARA COLLINS, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton 
 
'Taut, compulsive, and unsettling ... It had me holding my breath until the final, brilliant end' JENNIE GODFREY, No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The List of Suspicious Things

Sweat

About us

About Us (Header 4)

Emma Healey

Praise for Sweat

Taut, compulsive, and unsettling ... SWEAT had me holding my breath until the final, brilliant end

Sweat will keep you guessing until the very last page…

Will have you glued to the story through every twist and turn. I absolutely loved it!

Taut, compulsive, and unsettling ... SWEAT had me holding my breath until the final, brilliant end

Sweat will keep you guessing until the very last page…

Will have you glued to the story through every twist and turn. I absolutely loved it!

Taut, compulsive, and unsettling ... SWEAT had me holding my breath until the final, brilliant end

Sweat will keep you guessing until the very last page…

Will have you glued to the story through every twist and turn. I absolutely loved it!

Books by Emma Healey

Articles featuring Emma Healey

What to read based on your favourite Olivia Rodrigo song

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter