'Wayward reads like a burning fever dream. A virtuosic, singular and very funny portrait of a woman seeking sanity and purpose in a world gone mad' New York Times Book Review [insert 5 stars] 'If there's any justice in the world, Spiotta's firecracker of a novel, Wayward , will bring her the attention she very much deserves' Lucy Scholes, Sunday Telegraph Samantha Raymond's life has begun to come apart: her mother is ill, her teenage daughter is increasingly remote, and she finds herself staring into 'the Mids' - hours of supreme wakefulness when women of a certain age contemplate their lives. For Sam, this means motherhood, mortality and the state of an unravelling nation. When Sam falls in love with a decrepit Arts and Crafts house on the wrong side of town, she buys it on a whim and flees her suburban life, attempting to find beauty in the ruins. 'One of the most wildly talented writers in America. This is Spiotta's best book yet' George Saunders 'A slyly funny, clever and compelling story about the righteous (and rarely irrational) rage of women of a certain age' Sarra Manning, Red magazine 'A piercing novel about what we lose and gain by when we step out of life's deepest worn grooves' Vogue 'She writes with sly humour and utter seriousness; a rare articulation of midlife now' Claire Messud