Dark academia is turned inside out in The Five of Us, an unsettling, propulsive thriller where home is not a sanctuary, isolation looms, and the future has evaporated. All that’s left is fear, frustration, and an anger that won’t go away.
Intrigued? Read on to discover the cover and synopsis ahead of its release on August 25th 2026! Be sure to preorder your copy through Amazon or Blackstone!
But first, here’s what the author has to say about her book and its cover!
“The Five of Us is a twisty thriller about friendship, class and consequences. It’s also a personal book, inspired by my time teaching during lockdown. It was different from anything we’d ever known. What about all the experiences young people were promised and would miss out on forever? I created Crow, Cuckoo, Wren, Starling and Goldie to reflect the confusion, anger and resentment that existed at the time and still does now.
It is a coming-of-age novel for everyone that was left behind.
My immense thanks to Alenka Linaschke, the incredible cover designer, who has captured the dark mood of this book perfectly. I’m so excited for you all to read.”
Meet Crow, Goldfinch, Starling, Wren, and Cuckoo-five girls who will never tell you their real names. They’re the brightest students at an underfunded, inner-city Bristol school, pushing toward opportunity despite the odds stacked against them. They believe they’re on the cusp of something better … until the world abruptly shuts down. Exams are cancelled, their plans collapse, and the future dissolves into a fog of uncertainty.
With long nights, a city under curfew, and nothing left to lose, the girls slip into a world of dark possibility. Each illicit outing becomes its own kind of dangerous magic. Their choices spiral-from reckless to ruthless-and by the end of a strange, suspended summer, more than one person will be dead.
Seven years later, the survivors have not spoken since. But someone knows what happened. Someone who has been watching. Hunting. Taunting. As they stumble through an adulthood they were never prepared for-and reckon with all the wounds of a generation left behind-the rage that bound them together in the past resurfaces with lethal force.
They broke the rules. And now the rules may end up breaking them.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
