Description

‘A LABYRINTHINE MYSTERY OF EMOTIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY’ Jo Brand
‘DELIRIOUS AND REWARDING’ Guardian
‘UNMISSABLE’ Woman’s Weekly

Fleeing Scotland in the wake of family disgrace, 16-year-old Ida Campbell secures a scholarship at a failing girls’ boarding school on a remote part of the south English coast. Despite the eccentricities of her new Headmistress, who warns her of the dangers of the Cold War and the ever-present threat of the bomb, St Anne’s seems like a refuge to Ida. But all this is about to change. For a start, her new room-mate is the infamous Louise Adler, potential arsonist and hardened outcast.

Meanwhile, the geography teacher Eleanor Alston, in her late thirties, a disastrous love affair in her wake, faces the new term with weary resignation. But the fragile ecosystem of the school is disrupted by the arrival of a new teacher, Matthew Langfield. Eleanor has an uneasy feeling he is not who he says he is.

And things only get worse when a mysterious sickness starts to spread throughout the school, causing strange limb jerks and seizures among the pupils. What is happening to the girls of St Anne’s? Could there be a poisoner among them? Is Ida’s scholarship really an escape, or is it instead a new nightmare?

READERS ARE LOVING HAVOC:

‘Superb. Brilliantly funny, at times extremely poignant’
‘Another beautifully written book by Rebecca’
‘Utterly glorious, moving, enthralling and witty. I am so cross I have finished it’
‘I absolutely loved the humour in this book. Bonus points for the Cold War references’
‘Entertaining and humorous’

Publisher Review

Tragedy and comedy fuse together perfectly in a labyrinthine mystery of emotional and psychological complexity. — Jo Brand Havoc is a rich, wry delight of a read – as funny as it is thought-provoking, as evocative as it is page-turning. Rebecca Wait is a phenomenal storyteller. I can’t wait to see what she writes next * Abbie Greaves, author of The Silent Treatment * SCREAMING, CRYING, THROWING UP! Havoc is a fever worth catching, a gloomy and gorgeous pleasure * Maggie Thrash, author of Rainbow Black * Eerie and utterly absorbing . . . [Havoc] is a tragicomic triumph about adolescence, identity and how quickly order can unravel * IMAGE Magazine * A delight to return to [Rebecca’s] witty, emotional, insightful writing * Hannah Beckerman * One of my favourite reads of the year! * Charlotte Heathcote * Funny * Good Housekeeping (20 Hottest Books of Summer) * Rebecca Wait has a glorious turn of phrase and a dazzling ability to go on peculiar tangents that never detract, but only ever add to a character’s experience . . . Wait’s writing is dry and droll, her characters twisty, thoughtful and highly specific, and Havoc is a total blast of a read, perfectly pinpointing where tragedy and wryness meet * Irish News * A biting and savagely funny novel . . . Think dark academia meets The League of Gentlemen * Red Magazine * Its boarding-school setting may well be decrepit, but the writing in Havoc is anything but. Sharp and compelling, Wait has – once again – created the most curious of characters, who made me both laugh and gasp aloud. In many ways extraordinary, I loved it * Amy Beashel * A master of zippy one-liners * Sunday Times * A wonderfully droll English tragicomedy, with darkness and bite * Natasha Poliszczuk (Summer Reading List 2025) * Rebecca Wait has a glorious turn of phrase and a dazzling ability to go on peculiar tangents that never detract, but only ever add to a character’s experience. * Herald * Gleefully macabre . . . Wait mines the rich seam of girls’ school fiction to delirious and rewarding effect. There are welcome echoes of St Trinian’s [and] abundant Ealing comedy in the madcap chases through school corridors and machinations in the lighting gallery during the school play. Yet beneath the comedy lies a distinctly unsettling undertone: the girls experience a convincingly visceral terror that edges towards Shirley Jackson territory and gives their hysteria an extra dimension. This, along with a genuine unexpectedness in the characterisation and a lot of very funny dialogue, loosens things up and brings real originality to the game. Combined with excellent pacing, a plot so deliciously thick you could stand a spoon up in it, and the boldness required to splice a darker thread into the narrative, it all adds up to a thoroughly satisfying contribution to a happily capacious genre. * Guardian (Book of the Day) * [Rebecca Wait] perfectly balances dark humour with a sense of encroaching threat. Her keen ear for dialogue and astute social observations make for a highly enjoyable and multi-layered novel * Observer * Unmissable . . . [Wait] combines a propulsive plot with unforgettable characters and laugh-out-loud funny dialogue * Women’s Weekly * Wry, compelling, and far funnier than a book about a mysterious contagion has any right to be, Havoc is an ode to the beautiful and complicated shambles of girlhood and the tender uncertainty of adulthood. With clear-eyed control and a keen wit, Rebecca Wait has created an unforgettable cast of characters so richly drawn you’d swear you went to school with them yourself. At once a mystery, a comedy, and a coming-of-age tale, Havoc defies easy categorisation beyond what it is at its heart: a deft and thoughtful page-turner that will satisfy anyone who appreciates a good story. — Alison Wisdom, author of WE CAN ONLY SAVE OURSELVES and THE BURNING SEASON Rebecca Wait excels at tragicomedy . . . [Havoc] is St Trinian’s on steroids. * Guardian (Best Fiction of 2025) *