As astonishing satire of wellness, freedom and rebellion from the acclaimed author of Perfidious Albion.

Why be healthy when the world is so sick?

Maya is homeless. When her site is razed by ruthless authorities, she’s detained. But then Maya is given a lifeline, a chance to re-enter society. A tech company – angling to raise its philanthropic profile – offers her a job and a flat. There’s one caveat: Maya must document her progress on Instagram, to show that anyone can be productive; perfect.

Yet Maya realises that sickness is a kind of revolution. With other outcasts, Maya starts a movement: billboards promoting wellness are defaced all over London and her media feed is flooded with obscene, filthy images. Suddenly, questions arise about the forces unleashed: liberation and madness, protest and anarchy, rebellion and chaos . . .

From the author of Perfidious Albion, a darkly comic and profoundly affecting novel about resistance, radicalism and redemption.

‘A mordant, needle-sharp satire.’ Jonathan Coe on Perfidious Albion

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Sam Byers’s writing has appeared in Granta, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Times Literary Supplement. His debut novel Idiopathy was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Prize and the Desmond Elliott Prize and was the winner of a Betty Trask Award. His second novel, Perfidious Albion, was longlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize and the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and shortlisted for the Encore Prize.