The Book Game

by Frances Wise

What if your perfect life was a charade?

It is August, and eight old friends have gathered at a country house for a writers' retreat. By day, there is reading beside the pool or writing in the shady corners of the estate. In the evenings – drinks, dinner outdoors, games, midnight swimming.

But as temperatures rise in the stifling last days of summer, tensions do too. Old jealousies, new temptations and bitter rivalries bubble to the surface. By the end of the week, friendships – and lives – will have changed forever.

Astute, witty and page-turning, The Book Game is a novel about ambition, competition, regret and desire; about paths not taken and last chances suddenly seized; about the games people play. It asks what it means, in all senses, to be in the middle of life.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Book Club, Literary Fiction

347 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 5, 2025

Reviews

[Alwynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intrigue, rivalry and lust among the chattering classes. Frances Wise’s debut novel revolves around an exclusive writing retreat at the gracious home of Cambridge don Lawrence and wealthy put-upon wife Claudia. The assembled party includes writers, artists, former students and colleagues all of whom are dealing with challenges in their lives. As they recreate Ottolenghi dishes and sip homemade elderflower wine, tensions simmer and rise, rapidly approaching boiling point. Frances Wise is the pseudonym for academics Chloë Houston and Adam Smyth both of whom have backgrounds in literature – fittingly their novel is awash with references to the work of people like Donne and Shakespeare. There’s a dash of mystery but character takes precedence over plot here, so whether or not it appeals likely hinges on readers’ responses to Wise’s cast. For me this was perfectly readable and decently written but I found it hard to stir up much interest in the fate of the key players so never found myself fully engaged with them or their personal, emotional journeys.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher 4th Estate

[Roman Clodia · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Have you any idea of the privilege of your life?... Have you ever been inside a comprehensive school? Have you ever been inside an educational establishment that was built later than the thirteenth century?'

I've never actually read any books by Elizabeth Jane Howard but this is what I imagine her books are like - with a sceptical C21st eye cast over the narrative. Written by two literature academics, this features an ensemble cast gathered together by the risible Lawrence for a 'writing retreat' in his gorgeous, old, Blue Plaqued manor house (inherited from his wife's family, natch) complete with folly, swimming pool and orchard. Inevitably, it has the kind of troubling colonial history highlighted by Colonial Countryside but Lawrence doesn't see himself as at all complicit with power hierarchies, historical and contemporary, and gamely wears his This is what a feminist looks like t-shirt, utterly oblivious to his own rampant misogyny and toxic masculinity.

I guess one of the troubling things about the book is that all the characters are essentially intellectually privileged: they're academics (some ex-PhD students of Lawrence), a popular historian, and a literary agent. They write books, appear on TV and on podcasts, write for the Guardian and review in the TLS. Ash is the most politically aware given his ethnic background and opinions on race and diversity but he's also benefited from a Cambridge education and a lifelong friendship with Lawrence - one which seems only recently to have come under pressure.

In typical ensemble way, all the characters are dealing with issues: stale marriage, divorce, professional stasis but this still feels pretty rarefied. I can't help enjoying a book where people have literary conversations about John Donne, early modern printing, and joke about the Tudor Court - but, at the same time, this feels like a kind of Sunday supplement life where everyone cooks like Ottolenghi and the wine is always excellent - no buying the supermarket deal of the week in this world!

With issues around adultery, academic plagiarism, and who owns the power there's a pacy story if this is your thing. It is all terribly bourgeois - and a lesbian sexual encounter as a breakout moment of transgression feels a bit on the nose (if not old fashioned). There's some nice wit in the first half but that rather falls off later.

Overall, I'd say this is a holiday read for Guardian readers (of which I am one!) - kind of middle class soap opera and a fun page-turner.

Thanks to 4th Estate foe an ARC via NetGalley

[Ciska · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was truly so excellent!!! I think people are really gonna love this one when it comes out 🫢 the characters were so dynamic and believable, the story was perfectly crafted and held everything in balance. I was gripped by the suspense of it all but the true star is the writing; that's what had me greedily coming back for more! thank you so much to 4th estate for an advanced copy, I really loved this. out march 2025!

[Liz | lizzuplans · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read that really pushed me outside of my comfort zone!

I usually read plot-driven books, so this character-driven book – and very slow-paced at that – was an interesting change in direction.
Still, to be at Hawton Manor with everyone for their writing retreat was lovely, but one I do not think I will repeat often.

It was fun (or “fun”) to be in everyone’s mind and get a front row seat to their relationships, struggles, social faux-pas, privilege… Though it also tired me a lot!!
I had a great time making notes in the margins and reacting to the story. It will be very fun to look back on this in the future.

Speaking of the future: the ending of the book was surprisingly profound and made me quite emotional. Et in Arcadia ego indeed!

Favourite character: Harold of course, followed very closely by Deborah.

Not a book I would have picked up for myself and I am not sure if I would have kept going if it was not a book we are reading as a group, but I had a really good time reading and annotating this book!

Looking forward to hearing the authors talk about their book!

3.5 to 4 stars, rounded up.

Read for a reading retreat with Boutique Book Breaks.

[Wendy Greenberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not a literary thriller. I felt misled, and found nothing thrilling about it. I had somehow made an assumption that there may be a death or murder...if only.

Set in a rambling family house near Cambridge this writers retreat is a story of academia, self importance, grudges and taking liberties. Whilst this could be the source of intrigue, I found instead a cliche (which does not detract from it being life-like) of tedious character interplay amongst a cast of differently dislikable protagonists. The philandering one, the one with unfulfilled ambition, the head girl trope, the lesbian artist, the gay marriage, the stalker, the one holding the moral high ground etc - most of them drunk, most of the time. A creative retreat to me conjurs up many things but what we saw here was none of those.

Whilst the writing that captured these caricatures was engaging for the most part, the way the story concluded felt as though it hadn't been written for the right book nor written by the same author. There was a very obvious end but instead we were thrown the curved ball of a rambling looking into the future and what happened to the house.

I was disappointed

With thanks to #NetGalley and #4thEstate #HarperCollinsUK for the opportunity to read and review

[Alix · Rating 4 out of 5]

A confident and intriguing book following the moderately arrogant but well meaning Lawrence, and the book retreat he runs for his friends and acquaintances for a week. The dynamics between the characters are immediately arresting, and I really enjoyed following the characters interactions and working out their secrets and ulterior motives. I do understand other reviewers comments that the book is being sold and begins as a lot more thriller-y than it turns out, however once you are into the story it is an excellent read.

[lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Book Game tells the story of eight friends on a weeklong writing retreat one hot August. It is about rivalry, desire, regret, and the judgements we make about one another. It is a subtle page-turner, tension and intrigue weaved into every page and its deep sense of paranoia. Set in a recluse manor in Cambridgeshire, the setting is intensely visceral – both beautiful and unsettling. It is impossible to read this book without being able to completely envision the setting and place yourself in this retreat.

The character studies in this book are what make it so brilliant. Paragraphs frequently shift between perspectives, allowing us to see how these friends view each situation and their personal agendas whilst leaving us with breadcrumbs to follow. Every character has a distinct personality, intensely flawed and self-centred yet frequently likeable and relatable. You mistrust them and yet can’t wait to learn more. This is such an astute psychological study.

Written by two academics, The Book Game is about a group of academics and artists so there are many literary references, such as to Donne, to unpack as they spend a week in this old manor. A positive for any lover of older literature!

The descriptions in this book are truly remarkable, with emotions captured in such minute detail and tension so carefully balanced. This is a slow burn, primarily focused on the flaws of the protagonists rather than anything like murder, and one that can be deeply satisfying if you connect to this cast of characters. Lawrence is such an enticing central protagonist, captivated by his need for superiority and to be the centre of attention. It is full of gossip and jealousy, and the dialogue is incredibly natural. It explores power dynamics, adultery, plagiarism and more.

The epilogue did unfortunately fall flat for me and there could’ve been higher stakes throughout for this to become even more of a page-turner, but it is a wonderful summer book to read whilst sipping cocktails by the pool. Delicious and intriguing.

(thank you @4thestatebooks for my copy and @frances_wise_author for agreeing to be interviewed by me!)

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book chosen for our book group and sparked wide-ranging discussions from AI to the number of 'Lawrences' that we know and so was an excellent choice.

The premise of the book

Set in a wonderful manor house with beatifully furnished and lived in rooms and a swimming pool, Lawrence, a Professor, invites a group of people he knows for a writing retreat. The blurb at the beginning says they are 'old friends' but they aren't. Each one comes with an agenda or a need and over the course of the week, these are revealed. Lawrence is living in his wife's house where she provides the luxury and status domestically, but he is the academic whose time and ideas are unfortunately running out. He is having an affair, not the first, and he is struggling to maintain his air of superiority along with which goes the micro-managing of the retreat and what his guests must do.

It is a hot summer, the food is good (if we'd read this book in the heat of this summer, I might have been tempted to cook the food in it for the book club) with an atmosphere of Tuscany. But this is no holiday and after the nights of drinking, the friends must turn to their work. Each character is well-drawn, and as the academics in our book club said, very like real life. Academia is a competitive world and this does not bring out the best in people.

What I was expecting

I read a lot of detective/crime novels and so I have to admit to expecting a closed-circle murder story. Everyone gathered in one place for a set amount of time, friends with grudges, jealousies and rivalries, hot weather and lies and deceptions. In fact, the prologue sets us up to think something is going to happen as Lawrence watches from the house his wife and best friend looking like they are more than just friends. It sets the tone and you know from the start that this is not going to be an idyllic summer retreat. Perhaps that is part of The Book Game.

Half-way through I began to wonder when the murder would happen and three quarters of the way through I realised that it wouldn't. This is a novel about academia and writing and success with the most successful character financially, Miles, being the least present and the one that feels the most ignored. Perhaps academia turns its nose up at financial success, although now researchers are often encouraged to create start-ups with their work and turn these into businesses.

If there is no murder, how does the book end?

At its simplest with everyone returning home but there is an epilogue set in the future which some reviewers have found a little odd. Lawrence and Claudia's son returns to the manor house with his daughter, Eve, and peers through the gate at a dilapidated house. They enter and find the swimming pool full of water that stinks and possibly a plaque naming Lawrence and his work on the side of the folly. Eve tries to imagine her Grandmother and the parties that took place at the house but can't and takes a photo of it. We then trace this photo through its many lives and the manor house until it is knocked down and a laboratory for a university built on the site. Eventually, the photo is cut up for collaging and the remains burned in the fire place.

This is where the benefits of book club are so good at deepening understanding. As a teacher, we often used to say about reading and that we dislike what we don't understand and that is true for me too. I found the epilogue odd and couldn't square the circle I knew it was closing but our discussions centred around academic arguments, rivalries and jealousies being transitory or unimportant in the long-term. They feel it if you are involved at that moment but in the future no one will remember them because in the grand scheme of life they are so inconsequential.

So, why is it called The Book Game?

This question also had me stumped. There is a book game in the novel that the retreat guests play one evening and we have adopted it to be our Christmas party game this year. Each person takes it in turn to read out a first sentence of a book and then everyone writes down what they think the second sentence might be. These are then read out along with the real second sentence and you can vote on which one you think best. We will love this, especially me who never takes these things seriously and will write the most ridiculous sentence I can think of. There is, therefore, a real book game. However, I think there are more.

Part of the book game is that this is written by two academics. You can't tell that it isn't one person and so I think this is part of a 'game' of playing with writing. The name of the author Frances Wise is gender neutral, the two authors are male and female, and does have some meaning linked to being a free person often connected to the idea of sincerity. I think there may a little game going on here, particularly with the surname Wise.

The idea of a closed-circle novel which many academia novels are, but so too are crime novels. The tone from the prologue directs us to thinking that a cataclysmic event will occur that will affect everyone. There are events that affect each character but not in the style of a murder. It's part of the game of a novel - making your reader work against their expectations of books.

Part of the game of a novel is when to reveal the true meaning of a book, and here we wait until the epilogue. It's a long time to keep your reader hanging on, but it worked.

Even the peacocks or their descendents, I haven't mentioned them but they are present in the book as a device, last longer than the academics and their arguments, but are the children probably of those who were present during the retreat as was Eve. So we have some playing with strands of longevity and symbolism. Peacocks strut and are noisy, as are some academics, but every now and then they show us their wonderful tail feathers and we love to see that and pick up a feather (very 1970s house decoration).

It's a difficult game to write about an institution you are employed by, and not show it off at its best. The fact that the authors come from different universities probably made it harder for colleagues to ask if one of the characters was based on them, but I wonder if the whole of academia and getting published is a 'game' that has to be played.

It is an excellent book club choice.

[Simon S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eight writers, old friends of varying fondness, gather at a country house for a summer retreat. On paper it’s all pools and prose, shady corners and cocktails, dusk-drenched dinners and literary small talk with a bit too much wine. But the heat’s oppressive, the mood starts to curdle, and as the week unspools, the cracks—old grievances, not-so-buried jealousies, badly timed flirtations—begin to show.

Lawrence, successful and respected academic, has organised this retreat in the historic home he shares with his wife, and which was her family inheritance. He’s invited old friends and colleagues, all of whom he feels in some way superior to. His promise of a peaceful week is more of a showcase for his status. His wife, Claudia, once a successful classical singer, subsumed all that for family life and to support his career. Projecting indifference, she’s beginning to realise what that’s cost her—her diminishment, and her withdrawal from anything she once wanted for herself. Her bewilderment when she finds herself overwhelmingly attracted to one of the guests, and recalls who she used to be, is very powerful.

Lawrence’s interests and worries lie elsewhere.

The interplay between the guests, the playing out of tensions, is superbly done, and The Book Game itself—a game of bluff and appropriation—is a brilliant microcosm of the novel. Can you spot the real among the fake? Whose writing is this?

The book is richly layered: Britain’s shady historical past, gender and race, class, guilt, betrayal—tattooed, under the surface and also visible, across the lives of a convincing, diverse, rounded cast. Their inattention and skepticism eventually rattle Lawrence enough to bring forth the rot beneath his hip slogan t-shirts.

As one of the characters puts it:

“I’ve come to the conclusion that the actual point of conversations about… non-white voices and women on boards and all of that… is to keep mediocre upper-middle-class white men in power.”
​
Funny, moving, timely, and eloquent—one of my books of the year.

[A.J. Sefton · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is something wonderful and nostalgically English about this book. Set in rural Cambridgeshire in an untypical English summer (in other words, beautiful weather) eight people gather to spend a week reading, writing and talking about literature in a 'writers' retreat'. In between that there is swimming, drinking and fine dining in a luxurious country estate. Dreamy, right?

The hosts are a married couple, he is a lecturer who wears virtue-signalling slogan tee shirts, while his wealthy wife takes charge of the food. Each of the characters have their own point of view and enter the story with their own thoughts and journeys so that each one is pretty much rounded and we don't get confused with a list of names to match up. They are all interesting enough to keep the pace. Of course, they have their own ambitions, desires and secrets and they are subtly exposed.

This is a pleasant read, witty and comical in places, and the references to literature is always a bonus in novels about books and bookish sorts. I also enjoyed historical aspects of the area around Cambridge. Not keen on the chapters including several viewpoints, that's a tad confusing sometimes, but besides that the writing cannot be faulted and is always engaging.

An immersive slice of the apparent perfect life, this book shows how all is not as its seems, with self doubt, envy, ambition, guilt, regret and desire running through the guests psyche. Other issues are addressed such as social class, privilege and colonialism, simply because what else do you do on alcohol-induced sultry evenings? A deep anxiety bubbles within all of the characters that creates tension, while the overarching theme is transparency.

The epilogue, however, moves away from the character-driven story and focuses on the future history of the house, which jars a little. Perhaps the real story was the house and not the people after all.

Beautifully written; in a way it is a light read with an academic slant.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. With thanks to NetGalley and 4th Estate for the arc.
A group of Cambridge scholars (ex and current) come together for a week long, idyllic writing retreat at a beautiful old house in the Cambridgeshire countryside. What could possibly go wrong?
This is one of those books that is quite hard to pin down to any specific genre. It isn’t really a mystery or a thriller, doesn’t quite fit as ‘literary fiction’, and isn’t ‘dark’ enough for dark academia. The writing is excellent. I found myself very quickly being drawn in to the claustrophobic environment of the retreat and enjoyed the interplay between a group of frankly egotistical, mainly unlikeable, characters. My main problem with the book, and the reason it didn’t get a higher rating, is that it felt like story didn’t really go anywhere. There are lots of plot twists and turns, but a lot of them are just left hanging, or fizzle out. The main (to me) arc of the story, which revolves around the central character Lawrence and the stripping away of his thin veneer of moral and academic respectability, is one of the major casualties of this tendency. Does he get his comeuppance? Who knows? Things are hinted at, but personally I prefer a more definite ending to a story. Unfortunately the Epilogue, which romped through several decades of what happened after the retreat, just added to the frustration. I think it was trying to tie into the epitaph on a gravestone in the nearby churchyard “We are what you will be, we were what you are”, showing the inexorable march of time and how these small, intense human dramas, are actually of little consequence in the grand scheme of things, but the effect was just a rushed jumble of events and people who had nothing to do with the rest of the book.
A solid read but a disappointing end.

[pastiesandpages - Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The jealousies & rivalries simmer like the August heat at a country estate in Cambridge where eight friends are spending a week at a writer's retreat. Lawrence & Claudia are the hosts. Lawrence is a professor and all the other characters are involved in academia. With all the tension, ambition, regret and desire in these pages I wondered if the novel falls within the dark academia genre 🤔

It's very well written with all the characters fleshed out beautifully and very believable, even though most are quite unlikeable, and the estate house itself feels like another character, full of history including tragedy and death.

The title has several meanings. There is a literal book game. A literary parlour game that our damson gin-addled protagonists play during one group session. There is the publishing book game. Two characters discuss their current successes, or lack thereof, with Ash saying how he's content for an academic text he's written to slowly accumulate readers and recognition over decades, versus the quick success and tv appearances of other writers.
And there's the game the book plays with the reader. Keeping us gripped with a real page turner, unable to look away as we know things will go wrong for this group with their narcissism & infidelities, secrets & lies.

The only missteps the book makes are with the prologue & epilogue.
The prologue misdirects. Maybe intentionally, but it gives the impression of a thriller or locked room murder mystery which it isn't. The epilogue, while interesting, doesn't have any bearing on the main story. Both are really superfluous to enjoy being a voyeur at this hellish writing retreat full of literary asides (I did feel good when I saw A House for Mr Biswas referenced).

An interesting debut from Frances Wise. The author's name is a pseudonym. Another book game 😉

[Joanna Cannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the early hours of this morning, I finished this book. For the past few days, the story has completely taken over my head and I've carved out as many pockets of time as I could in a very busy week, just to get back to it.
It's the tale of a writing retreat, hosted at Hawton Manor by Cambridge academic Lawrence (who is as fond of his rules as he is of himself) and his exceptionally tolerant wife Claudia. There is a large and wonderful cast of guests, from socially awkward former PhD student Josh to deeply funny literary agent Deborah, and I adored (and mistrusted) them all in equal measure.
Is this a literary thriller? Possibly. There were pages which genuinely gave me the chills, and it certainly has a gothic whisper about it from time to time. Then again, there's more than a pinch of PG Wodehouse there too and the whip-smart observations made me laugh out loud. It's a story about middle-age and midnight swims, about peacocks and damson gin and the lies we tell ourselves just to get from one side of the day to the other. It's also about the fierce and pivotal moments in our lives which might seem all-consuming but which will, eventually, become only biscuit crumbs ... and the ending was PERFECT.
In case it isn't obvious, I adored this book and I will be shouting about it for a very, very long time. If you're an author or a reviewer, and this proof is in your TBR pile, it genuinely needs to rise to the top.
Although now I have finished, I've absolutely no idea what to do with myself.
Maybe I should go on a writing retreat? 😂 🦚

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an intense character study. I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and publisher.

This book was very character focused, there’s not a huge amount of plot and not a lot happens. Yet, I was completely and utterly fascinated. I couldn’t look away from the way some of these characters toed with disaster. Our story takes place when a group of people all connected to a writer and professor travel to his home in the Cambridge countryside for a writing retreat. Friendships will be tested, secrets will come out and people will rub each other the wrong way. Some of the characters are so deeply flawed, and others are wounded due to the proximity to the central character. I say central rather than main, because the book is told from multiple perspectives. Central because he connects all of the retreat attendees, but not main because the author skilfully gives the other characters the spotlight, making it so this is not just one person’s story. This felt deliberate to hold a mirror up to the central character and how he feels he should be the centre of everyone’s world. Indeed, his friends and families have hopes, dreams and desires that do not involve him and frustrations that grow due to his behaviour. Connections abound in this week long retreat and new relationships are formed and others fray.

The author manages to explore the characters flaws and hypocrisies so cleverly, whilst injecting subtle humour and without ever feeling preachy. This felt like such a deep psychological study as characters are presented with opportunities to learn and grow and we see some embrace it, and others bristle. By the end of this retreat we have such a clear picture of who each of these characters are and who will change for the better, and who will stagnate.

Fascinating, clever, gently humorous , I thoroughly enjoyed this.

[Bodies in the Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this novel right up until the final chapter, when we ended with a cliff-hanger: Phoebe is about to tell two older women in college about the abuse of power she has suffered. What happens next? Well I quite liked being left, like a good poem, on the half-step, able to decide as the reader.

But then there was an epilogue, whose very existence I felt undermined the “over to you, reader” moment and also centred on the manor house which in the body of the novel was just the stage set.

I wonder if the editor asked for more? In any case, in my own mind I’m going to choose to remember this novel as finishing with that final cliff-hanger: will Phoebe expose her academic supervisor and, if so, will it do any good?

As you may imagine, given the two real people behind the pseudonym Frances Wise, everything else about this novel is pitch perfect. I particularly liked the way that Claudia, Miles, and Deborah, the non-academics on this writing retreat in Cambridge, came into focus. There felt to be real hope for them, while the others remained in thrall to the Great God Academe and his cruel sense of humour.

4.5 stars if half stars were allowed, and the half star lost only because of the epilogue.

AD-PR: Many thanks to 4th Estate for the eARC via NetGalley. I will be telling everyone to read this book this summer.

[Ann Dewar · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I read the blurb for this book, I was so excited to read it, combining literature and thriller sounded like my perfect read.

So why didn’t it work for me?

This novel is in no way a thriller, since barely anything happens. A writing retreat is organised at the country residence of the truly awful Lawrence, a narcissistic Cambridge don with an outsized ego and a total lack of self-awareness. For some reason, Claudia, his long-suffering wife and the real owner of the house and gardens, seems to have allowed herself to be subsumed by Lawrence’s will.

The guests - Deborah, Josh, Miles, Lucy, Ash and Ines - are very much ‘types’ and none of them are particularly appealing, despite the fact that most of them are described as being attractive. 1 is Jewish, 1 is brown, 1 is homosexual, 1 is a lesbian, etc.

If you have ever been tempted to go on a writing retreat, or undertake a PhD this book will certainly put you off. It will make you similarly glad if you have avoided working as an academic.

Finally, so who DID alter the typography in the press? The only genuine puzzle is never resolved or it passed me by, and if so, apologies and can someone tell me who did it. Chekhov’s Gun anyone?

With thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Alyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

"But someone is playing a game the others don't understand, meddling with their work and appearing to lurk on the edges of the retreat."
This is the blurb describing a mystery that drew me into reading this book and I waited for the crunch to come but it never really did. Yes, there was deceit and desire as promised in the blurb but it is never really brought into the light and it left me hanging on until the end for people to get their just deserts.
A group of people are pulled together by university lecturer, Lawrence, for a retreat at his and Claudia's house in the Cambridgeshire countryside. As the week unfolds we learn a great deal about all the characters and they certainly all have plenty to hide but I was left waiting for the main event which never really happened.
The book was quite readable and I enjoyed the style and characterisation but I was let down by the blurb and felt it didn't have enough mystery to fit with the build up.
With thanks to Netgalley and 4th Estate and William Collins for an arc copy in return for an honest review.

[Laura Hughes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this incredibly confusing and honestly, quite pompous. These people are described as friends, but they all seem to hate each other. Laurence is busy playing Lord bountiful at his wife’s family mansion. He’s apparently plagiarised his way to success while abusing his position as professor with many a young female student. He’s quite happy to be racist, sexist, homophobic and rude to everyone and yet somehow they’re all still here? Why? The younger members of the group are all sleeping around, they’re all jealous of each other and any success they have, and there’s very little writing going on during this retreat. It was a bit of a mess. I also couldn’t make any sense of the epilogue around the house and the photo being taken and then destroyed. I don’t know. Sometimes I think I’m just not clever enough to understand this stuff. Then I think well, whatever, perhaps that’s why they all prefer to swim and get drunk as the characters don’t care either.

[Farah G · Rating 3 out of 5]

A group of old friends gather in the English countryside, ostensibly for a week-long writers retreat. Some of them are only too happy to do so, in order to leave their "normal" lives behind. What they do not know is that one person in the group has a hidden agenda, and is playing a very different, and decidedly deeper game than the others.

This book is most definitely literary fiction and moves at a pace that I found a little too slow for my taste. But it is well written, and will appeal to those who are familiar with existential ennui and mid life issues.

The characters are well-rounded, and their interactions believably portrayed. This will probably be best suited to those who enjoy dark academia mysteries portrayed in a literary style.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

[olive · Rating 4 out of 5]

great exploration on the hierarchical contradictions found within academia and how it exploits those at the bottom of the system. it was also interesting to see how lawrence had manifested this corruption into his own life and the people around him. however, i feel like at times the novel tended to swerve with what it was actually trying to discuss – it was blanketed with subtleties. for what the novel was about (re: first sentence of this review), it seemed at times Wise were dipping their toes into the subject then immediately retreating out when things got too #scawwy. on the other hand, this worked at times, especially when the climax at the end was revealed and made the tense dialogue between lawrence and claudia and lawrence and ash satisfying to read. it definitely got more intriguing the more i read it and i anticipate more books from Wise!!

[Robin Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is literary fiction at its very best. The reader is submerged into a rich world of artists, and writers, and academics, where literary nuances can be savoured and historical subtleties appreciated.
Hawton, is an eighteenth-century manor house, on the rural outskirts of Cambridge. Lawrence, an academic supervisor, is determined to present it to his friends as another kind of Eden, but could his whole successful life be built on nothing more than deceit?
The author has a God-given gift for characterisation, describing emotions and sensitivities taut with friction but full of glittering possibilities. The characters create an unstoppable narrative tide.
This is a novel written with grace, intellect and authority. These pages contain a booklover's paradise.

[Steve Cripwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is August, and eight old friends have gathered at a country house for a writers' retreat. By day, there is reading beside the pool or writing in the shady corners of the estate. In the evenings – drinks, dinner outdoors, games, midnight swimming.
But as temperatures rise in the stifling last days of summer, tensions do too. Old jealousies, new temptations and bitter rivalries bubble to the surface. By the end of the week, friendships – and lives – will have changed forever.

I found this quite a slow read. I was constantly waiting for something to happen. It’s well written with good descriptions and character build but, there are pages where nothing seems to happen. Then it all happens at the end. Very much a slow burn.

[Hemmie Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must admit to struggling to grasp the cast of characters when I first started reading this novel, but they were so well written, they soon became individuals I liked or loathed.
I love a closed setting, and this reunion in a remote English country manor was perfect. Resentment and lies bubble under the surface throughout this book, as each character drinks too much, reveals too much, and occasionally says too much. They are all writers of various success, and sometimes their conversations about Latin and literature lost me, but it didn't detract from the enjoyment of the novel.
The epilogue felt a little rushed, but it did highlight the transience of life and the futility of some of our actions.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Book Game is an immersive, intelligent, in depth story of eight friends, brought together for one week at a writing retreat. Lawrence and Claudia, the hosts, are ostensibly the richest and most fortunate of all the friends, and yet as the week pans out deep cracks appear in their seemingly idyllic home life. The reader is drawn into each character's life, with their links to Lawrence and Claudia played out slowly and carefully, to a tumultuous conclusion. I especially admired Frances Wise's ability with the characters' speech, making it seem so natural, a real masterclass in dialogue. I think other writers and bookish people would especially appreciate this novel.

[Penelope Pitstop · Rating 3 out of 5]

A group of academics, writers and artists meets for a retreat at a gorgeous Cambridge country house.

I enjoyed reading this a lot - the pretentiousness, the backbiting, the gloriously awful host Lawrence.

But I wanted it to be either funnier or more thrilling. It just kind of petered out a bit. It’s kind of a comedy of manners but with enough hints of academic noir that you think maybe there’ll be some huge dramatic turning point, but it stays very contained within itself.

I’d give it 3.5 stars.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book with lots of character development, half truths and a slightly eerie edge to it (I kept thinking something scary was about to happen) Well researched, entertaining and bougie. You (30-40 somethings) will see yourself and your friends in this… and probably question those friendships and what’s real.
It all came together well in the last 50 bittersweet pages. I would recommend as a holiday read for sure as the scene is set and it’s a page turner.

[Michele]

The Book Game, Frances Wise
Combining a big house, academic rivalries, a literary retreat, old ‘friends’, family secrets, infidelity, unrequited love, the dissatisfactions of a long marriage and a sprinkling of Me Too. Phew. Only ageing narcissist, Lawrence, knows what’s really going on. Will he finally get his comeuppance? Heaven.
• The Book Game is out 5 June in hardback. Buy it from amazon, The Shift bookshop on bookshop.org, or your local indie.

[Caroline Delahunty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Utterly enjoyable book, for a first time author. Will wait patiently for the next novel! A picture perfect English country home, with a myriad of English country people, coming together for a literary retreat. Characters are excellent stages are set for intrigue, passion truth and the essence of life. Very well written, insanely poetic, quality read.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm writing this some weeks after reading The Book Game and I had to struggle to remember the plot - a bad sign - but I recall enjoying the tensions between supposed friends and the emergence of Claudia as a central character. It is a slow burn but worth it.

[Zoe Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was disappointing. It was pretentious, the characters all obnoxious and both soul-less and artificial, and the entire book just a bit tired.