What red was : a novel /

In her first week at university, Kate meets Max, who is charming and sociable in every way Kate thinks she's not. They're soon inseparable best friends, then roommates, and always the stars of one another's best stories, but never more, despite what everyone assumes. Kate tries not to seem too interested in Max's mom, a famous film director, or his family's considerable wealth but dreams of becoming a filmmaker herself. The summer after graduation, during a party at Max's parents' house, Kate is raped by someone close to Max. The before-and-after fissure this creates for Kate and the ways it affects everyone in her and Max's circles both before and after they know the truth is the focus of Price's first novel. Readers will see Kate first choose silence and self-harm over exposure and understand all that was taken from her without her consent. Price gets into the minds of characters, sometimes shifting quickly, to show how sexual violence burrows into whole webs of people. This smart, gripping novel paints an important topic in black-and-white.--Annie Bostrom Copyright 2010 Booklist

Two young adult friends uneasily navigate the aftermath of sexual assault in Price's searing debut. Kate Quaile meets Max Rippon during their first year of university in Gloucestershire, and the two bond over a shared love of film and quiet nights in. Kate's upbringing in council housing with her divorced mother, Alison, a recovering alcoholic, clashes with the wealth of Max's family, especially the old money of his grandmother's lavish country estate. Despite differences, Kate is welcomed by his family, including his mother, Zara, an acclaimed feminist film director, even if they do not fully understand Kate and Max's platonic friendship. During a summer party at the Rippons' London home, Max's churlish cousin Lewis rapes Kate. She hesitantly discloses her assault, first to Zara and then to Max, without naming her attacker. Zara insists on paying for therapy and providing her with contacts in the film industry for work while Max provides emotional support. As Kate begins her lurching recovery, Max deals with his grandmother's death and the family complications fed by their strong repression of uncomfortable emotions. Price has a sure hand in her depiction of the disruption that the trauma causes to Kate's life. This powerful novel handles its explosive plot with an admirable delicacy and offers an emotional portrait of friendship. (Aug.)

A young woman navigates the aftermath of her rape in young British novelist Price's sensitive debut.In her first week of university, Kate Quaile meets Max Rippona rom-com-style serendipitous encounterand the two bond immediately. Theirs is a deep and blissfully uncomplicated friendship. The fact that Max comes from great wealthan aristocratic father and a famous film director motherand Kate, raised by a single mom, comes from nothing of note hardly factors into their lives. Max "wasn't worried about what he might lose," Kate realizes early in their friendship, "because he'd always had more than enough." Over the next four years, their friendshipwhich manages to avoid most common collegiate pitfalls, like romance, or jealousy, or conflict at allonly deepens, as Kate, now an aspiring filmmaker herself, becomes a frequent guest of Max's family. And then, at a party at Max's parents' house, the summer after their graduation, Kate is assaulted and tells no one. A rift opens: As Kate struggles to cope with the impact of the violence, Max is busy with his new London life, which mostly involves partying and half-baked ideas for apps. Eventually, though, Kate, wracked by silence, begins to share her secretor at least, parts of it. But speaking up, too, has a cost. Though Price spends significant time documenting the repressed angst of the Rippon clan, the novel is strongest when Kate, whose evolving emotional stateher depression and panic giving way to waves of rageis both the heart and spine of the book. But while the novel is thoughtful and observant about privilege and power, it is not, on the whole, especially insightful about those topics, and the result is a story that feels just a touch too familiar. Despite Price's careful accounting of their dynamics, the characters hereeven Kate, who comes alive in the final few pagesfeel oddly nonspecific, without the interests or quirks or internal inconsistencies that differentiate individuals from well-illustrated types.The novel doesn't quite reach the depths of its potential, but Price is a novelist worth watching. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.