'I just loved it - it truly wedged itself into my brain. Absolutely vile and brilliant. Plaything is an unhinged melody, and it will serenade fans of the darkest narratives.' ALICE SLATER, author of Death of a Bookseller

'A gloriously tense tale of obsession' Financial Times

Anna is smart. Smarter than you, probably. But when she falls for the beautiful, enigmatic Caden, her need to get under his skin, to truly know him becomes overpowering.

Anna's new life in Cambridge is full of promise - she's the top student in her PhD cohort, she has great friends and she has met an exhaustingly attractive man - but something is a little off. Perhaps it's the routine violence of her lab work with animals, or maybe it's something to do with her boyfriend's icy reserve but it seems there is a kind of menace hiding beneath the Cambridge dream.

When Anna and Caden's lives become tightly entangled, her obsession with Caden's seemingly ever-present ex-girlfriend reaches a dangerous pitch... Just how far will she go to satiate her curiosity?

-------------------

FROM THE REVIEWS FOR BEA SETTON'S BERLIN

'Terrific . . . [an] unsettling and compelling read' Observer

'I was completely absorbed' FRANCESCA REECE, author of Voyeur

'Compelling, raw and thrillingly strange' MONA AWAD, author of Bunny

'Cinematically vivid, and refreshingly honest' LISA HALLIDAY, author of Asymmetry

About the Author
Bea Setton was born in France and has lived in Paris, the USA and Berlin, the city which inspired her critically acclaimed debut novel. She then studied at Cambridge for a master's in Philosophy & Theology, and this inspired the setting of her second book, Plaything. Bea currently divides her time between Berlin and Oxford, Mississippi, where she is writing her third novel.

Reviews
Setton offers a slow drip-feed of apprehension and unease as the novel swells towards a satisfying - and pleasingly unpredictable - climax * Daily Mail *
A gloriously tense tale of obsession . . . At times the reader feels like Setton's plaything, but she does it so well, we don't really mind. * Financial Times *
A cold novel, then, but one that will remain with me. The surprises work, a twist towards the end left me uttering an expletive aloud, and the final page made me shudder. Animal lovers, however, be warned. It's not just the mice who suffer. -- John Boyne * Irish Times *
There are twists and turns and moments of real poignancy in this smart, dark academia book * My Weekly *
I just loved it - it truly wedged itself into my brain. Absolutely vile and brilliant. Plaything is an unhinged melody, and it will serenade fans of the darkest narratives. In this utterly gripping, stomach-turning and explosive novel, obsession and jealousy are heightened by the claustrophobia, paranoia and loneliness of lockdown. I couldn't leave it alone, right until the bitter, bloody end. * Alice Slater, author of Death of a Bookseller *



Book Information
ISBN 9780857528018
Author Bea Setton
Format Paperback
Page Count 336
Imprint Doubleday
Publisher Transworld Publishers Ltd
Weight(grams) 408g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 154mm * 25mm