FALLOUT : A Novel

Perfect for fans of Holly Bourne, Meg Mason, Daisy Buchanan, and Emma Cline, Fallout is a sharp, darkly funny coming-of-age about a teenage girl who walks away from home and into a world that will change her forever.

From the Author of A Perfect Explanation, one of The Times'' Best Books of the Year
"A quiet but powerful stand against tyranny."—Publishers Weekly

"Astute, funny, and informed by a wealth of human experience."—Bestselling Author, Patrick Gale

"...Fizzing with detail, energy, and purpose."—Viv Groskop, Acclaimed Author of How to Own the Room

Warm, sharp, and quietly explosive—Fallout is the kind of novel readers pass to their friends, their sisters, and their book clubs, then can’t stop talking about long after the final page.

Bridget is fifteen and already tired of being told how the world works. Her father is building a fallout shelter in the garden. Her mother is holding the family together with routines and silence. And at school, no one is saying anything that feels true. So when Bridget hears about the women camped outside a military base at Greenham Common—protesting nuclear missiles, refusing to leave, she goes. At first, it’s just curiosity.

Then it’s something else.

Because Greenham isn’t what she expected. It’s chaotic, alive, and full of women who don’t ask permission. They argue, organise, clash, and care for each other in ways Bridget has never seen before. Here, the rules feel different. Looser. Sharper.

And the longer she stays, the harder it is to imagine going home.

But nothing at Greenham is simple. Beneath the solidarity, tensions simmer. Voices collide. Loyalties shift. And as Bridget is pulled deeper into this volatile, exhilarating world, she begins to see cracks—not just in the movement, but in everything she thought she understood about family, power, and herself.

Because once you start asking questions, you can’t always live with the answers.