Due for publication April 2024, by WhiteFox
Lost in Ibiza
21-year-old Alice is a young environmental activist determined to change the world. Her life is turned upside down when she discovers that the man who had raised her is not her father after all. Her biological father, William, turns out to be a wealthy property developer living in Ibiza, whose values seem radically at odds with Alice’s own.
But events take an unexpected turn when father and daughter inadvertently find themselves on a road trip across the island. As temperatures soar, they travel through the beautiful and rugged northern part of Ibiza, uncovering secrets from the past and glimpses of the future as they go. The events of the next 48 hours will change their lives, and those around them, forever.
An urgently compelling novel Lost in Ibiza offers an intimate meditation on family dynamics, set against the wider complexities of a fragile island utopia. By turns humorous and poignant, this is a searing insight into the collision between the personal and the political.
Deceptions
Inspired by a remarkable real-life story, this is a page-turning psychological thriller; a study of blood ties and self-delusion. A twelve year old school boy vanishes into thin air only to return three years later. Yet it soon transpires that far from being over, the mystery is only really just beginning.
Foyles Book of the Year 2010
“Deceptions is absolutely gripping. The nightmare landscape of the story, described with cool insinuation and emotional integrity, is both sinister and truthful.”
Sadie Jones
“I couldn’t put it down – it gets you from the first page and holds on till the end… the writing lifts the book out of the realm of the ordinary thriller and into something much more special: a study of humanity in extremis, coping with the unimaginable.”
Rosie Boycott
“Several hundred cuts above the rest; not another mawkish wallow, but a compulsive thriller with echoes of Ruth Rendell and Josephine Tey. Superb.”
Kate Saunders, The Times
“Great psychological insight lies at the heart of this disturbing, gripping story.”
Daily Mirror
“Rebecca Frayn’s compelling second novel. Intense, visceral. Frayn’s heartbreaking novel documents the effects of doubt and loss on familial bonds.”
Daily Mail
“Deceptions is a stylishly written page-turner by a novelist of skill and authority.”
Mail on Sunday
One Life
Rose and Johnny have enjoyed unencumbered, career-orientated lives - until Johnny’s desire for commitment and a child brings them to an abrupt crossroads. When conception proves elusive, Rose is forced to set aside all ambivalence as she embarks on an obsessive quest through the emotional and ethical minefield of IVF, before finally turning to more unconventional and desperate measures.
The Daily Mail Book Club choice for January 2007.
“A love letter to an unborn child that cuts to the core of what it means to be a man or a woman in the modern world... wise, tender and brutally honest, Rebecca Frayn has written the must-read book of the year.”
Tony Parsons
“I was up late into the night, gripped by the story, unable to put it down. There is something so beguiling about the main character’s optimism, something so infectious about her determination, so that each time she makes her attempt, each time, I thought, yes, this time, it will work. Her pain and loss of purpose is very powerful.”
Esther Freud
“This accomplished and startling debut hinges on one women’s desire for a baby. Complete with an unusual twist in the tale, I remained captivated until the final words. Written through the eyes of protagonist Rose, Frayn imaginatively tackles the world of infertility treatment and the emotional rollercoaster ride infertile couples endure. Frayn competently questions women’s choices and the nature of maternal aspiration, and convincingly describes Rose’s spiral into grief. Poignant and intense, the reader is swept up in a dreamy world of fears and desires. For fans of Maggie O’Farrell and Tony Parsons and for anyone who has undergone similar experiences, this book is a must-read.”
The Birmingham Post
“The tale of two yuppies battling infertility as only moderns know how could easily have gone awry in the hands of an author less skilled than Rebecca Frayn. The title perfectly reflects the matching of enormity with precision that surges through the book. It is a struggle etched with the utmost elegance and truth.”
The Financial Times
“Frayn has written a delicate, heartbreaking and modern novel about the desire to have children, and just what happens when you can’t. Keep the tissues handy.”
The Daily Mirror