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Long Wave
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Expected 2 Jul 26A hypnotic and haunting work of fiction about losing yourself and finding your family, Long Wave is the finest novel yet from Booker Prize-shortlisted Daisy Johnson
'Elemental, fundamental, irresistable... Her greatest achievement yet' Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Close to the shore is the uninhabited, wild, with only a storm-beaten lighthouse for shelter. Ori was found there as a small child with a handful of stones, no memories and no mother. When she has a baby of her own, the job of motherhood feels immense and sleepless nights begin to shatter her grip on reality. Her head fills with the sound of stones knocking against each other and the mystery of her past begins to unravel, opening up a path to the mother she lost, and the mother she could become.
Years earlier, on a sweltering summer day, ten-year-old Ruth sees a woman and her baby walk into the river and disappear. But she is the only witness, and the water yields no trace. Ruth’s mother, Edith, locks her daughter away – first to restrain these wild imaginings, and later, when she falls pregnant, to hide the shame. Ruth longs to escape and dreams of the nearby island, where she and her baby can finally be free.
Told with mythic power and lyrical precision, Long Wave is an extraordinary novel of longing and loss, rebirth and survival.
'Elemental, fundamental, irresistable... Her greatest achievement yet' Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Close to the shore is the uninhabited, wild, with only a storm-beaten lighthouse for shelter. Ori was found there as a small child with a handful of stones, no memories and no mother. When she has a baby of her own, the job of motherhood feels immense and sleepless nights begin to shatter her grip on reality. Her head fills with the sound of stones knocking against each other and the mystery of her past begins to unravel, opening up a path to the mother she lost, and the mother she could become.
Years earlier, on a sweltering summer day, ten-year-old Ruth sees a woman and her baby walk into the river and disappear. But she is the only witness, and the water yields no trace. Ruth’s mother, Edith, locks her daughter away – first to restrain these wild imaginings, and later, when she falls pregnant, to hide the shame. Ruth longs to escape and dreams of the nearby island, where she and her baby can finally be free.
Told with mythic power and lyrical precision, Long Wave is an extraordinary novel of longing and loss, rebirth and survival.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication July 2, 2026
About the author
Daisy Johnson
33 books1,342 followersThe author of Sisters (2020) Everything Under (2018) and Fen (2016).
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Everything Under, her debut novel.
Winner of the Edgehill prize for Fen.
She has been longlisted for the Sunday Times Short Story Award and the New Angle Award for East Anglian writing. She was the winner of the Edge Hill award for a collection of short stories and the AM Heath Prize.
Reviews for Fen:
"Within these magical, ingenious stories lies all of the angst, horror and beauty of adolescence. A brilliant achievement." (Evie Wyld)
"There is big, dangerous vitality herein - this book marks the emergence of a great, stomping, wall-knocking talent" (Kevin Barry)
"Reading the stories brought the sense of being trapped in a room, slowly, but very surely, filling up with water. You think: this can't be happening. Meanwhile, hold your breath against the certainty it surely is. " Cynan Jones
"I've been working my way slowly through Fen and not wanting it to end - Daisy marries realism to the uncanny so well that the strangest turnings ring as truth. The echoes between stories give the collection a wonderfully satisfying cohesion, so that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I cannot wait to see what she does next." (Sara Taylor, author of The Shore)
Reviews for Everything Under:
"Everything Under grabbed me from the first page and wouldn’t let me go. To read Daisy Johnson is to have that rare feeling of meeting an author you’ll read for the rest of your life." (Evie Wyld)
"Surprising, gorgeously written, and profoundly unsettling, this genderfluid retelling of Oedipus Rex will sink into your bones and stay there." (Carmen Maria Machado)
"Daisy Johnson is a genius." (Jeff VanderMeer)
"Hypnotic, disquieting and thrilling. A concoction of folklore, identity and belonging which sinks its fangs into the heart of you." (Irenosen Okojie)
"Everything Under seeped through to my bones. Reaching new depths hinted at in Fen, language and landscape turn strange, full of creeping horror and beauty. It is precise in its terror, and its tenderness. An ancient myth masterfully remade for our uncertain times. " (Kiran Millwood Hargrave)
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Everything Under, her debut novel.
Winner of the Edgehill prize for Fen.
She has been longlisted for the Sunday Times Short Story Award and the New Angle Award for East Anglian writing. She was the winner of the Edge Hill award for a collection of short stories and the AM Heath Prize.
Reviews for Fen:
"Within these magical, ingenious stories lies all of the angst, horror and beauty of adolescence. A brilliant achievement." (Evie Wyld)
"There is big, dangerous vitality herein - this book marks the emergence of a great, stomping, wall-knocking talent" (Kevin Barry)
"Reading the stories brought the sense of being trapped in a room, slowly, but very surely, filling up with water. You think: this can't be happening. Meanwhile, hold your breath against the certainty it surely is. " Cynan Jones
"I've been working my way slowly through Fen and not wanting it to end - Daisy marries realism to the uncanny so well that the strangest turnings ring as truth. The echoes between stories give the collection a wonderfully satisfying cohesion, so that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I cannot wait to see what she does next." (Sara Taylor, author of The Shore)
Reviews for Everything Under:
"Everything Under grabbed me from the first page and wouldn’t let me go. To read Daisy Johnson is to have that rare feeling of meeting an author you’ll read for the rest of your life." (Evie Wyld)
"Surprising, gorgeously written, and profoundly unsettling, this genderfluid retelling of Oedipus Rex will sink into your bones and stay there." (Carmen Maria Machado)
"Daisy Johnson is a genius." (Jeff VanderMeer)
"Hypnotic, disquieting and thrilling. A concoction of folklore, identity and belonging which sinks its fangs into the heart of you." (Irenosen Okojie)
"Everything Under seeped through to my bones. Reaching new depths hinted at in Fen, language and landscape turn strange, full of creeping horror and beauty. It is precise in its terror, and its tenderness. An ancient myth masterfully remade for our uncertain times. " (Kiran Millwood Hargrave)
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 18, 2026
Fuck. Omg fuck.
This has broken me. And I will never stop thinking about this book.
What a beautiful and broken collection of lives living amongst each other, contributed to each child’s downfall. Generational trauma for the lord’s toughest soldiers, omg.
I am so thankful to Riverhead Books, Edelweiss Books, and Daisy Johnson for advanced access before US pub day - October 13, 2026.
FUCKKKKKK. The bodies of water in this small town keep secrets. They hold memories both light and dark, leading onto generations for time to come.
Told in a fragmented timeline, we hear the story of Edith, her daughter Ruth who is just longing to get away and stretch her wings, her neighbors - Dillon and his crew of brothers who are always getting into trouble, and a cast of other characters that Ruth meets throughout the course of her troubled life.
Ruth longs to visit the Island that collects the waters from their riverside town, believing she could create a utopia of sorts for her friends and family as they live off the land. In an attempt to journey out to that foreboding land mass, she stumbles upon a woman with a baby strapped to her chest, walking determinedly into the rushing river, only for her to vanish in the blink of an eye.
This canon event sparks a world of unrest in her home, as her mother, with good intentions, means to lock her away from harm and the light of day. But bad decisions are made and Ruth finds herself with child at the hand of one of Dillon’s brothers, with no intent on caring for his soon to be born child, or co-conspirator in the equation.
As Ruth’s life continues to spiral downward, the Island stays ever present on her horizon as the solution to her problems, but her cataclysmic ending sparks a new beginning for her daughter Ori, and the cycle forever continues.
This was such an incredible narrative and I cannot stop thinking about each character and the role they played in the OG plot. This isn’t my first Daisy Johnson read, and it’s definitely not my last.
This has broken me. And I will never stop thinking about this book.
What a beautiful and broken collection of lives living amongst each other, contributed to each child’s downfall. Generational trauma for the lord’s toughest soldiers, omg.
I am so thankful to Riverhead Books, Edelweiss Books, and Daisy Johnson for advanced access before US pub day - October 13, 2026.
FUCKKKKKK. The bodies of water in this small town keep secrets. They hold memories both light and dark, leading onto generations for time to come.
Told in a fragmented timeline, we hear the story of Edith, her daughter Ruth who is just longing to get away and stretch her wings, her neighbors - Dillon and his crew of brothers who are always getting into trouble, and a cast of other characters that Ruth meets throughout the course of her troubled life.
Ruth longs to visit the Island that collects the waters from their riverside town, believing she could create a utopia of sorts for her friends and family as they live off the land. In an attempt to journey out to that foreboding land mass, she stumbles upon a woman with a baby strapped to her chest, walking determinedly into the rushing river, only for her to vanish in the blink of an eye.
This canon event sparks a world of unrest in her home, as her mother, with good intentions, means to lock her away from harm and the light of day. But bad decisions are made and Ruth finds herself with child at the hand of one of Dillon’s brothers, with no intent on caring for his soon to be born child, or co-conspirator in the equation.
As Ruth’s life continues to spiral downward, the Island stays ever present on her horizon as the solution to her problems, but her cataclysmic ending sparks a new beginning for her daughter Ori, and the cycle forever continues.
This was such an incredible narrative and I cannot stop thinking about each character and the role they played in the OG plot. This isn’t my first Daisy Johnson read, and it’s definitely not my last.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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April 17, 2026Daisy Johnson is a fantastic writer! Her latest, Long Wave, is no exception. Throughout the book, I felt sad, like I was engulfed in a fog and can't find my way out. It is the story of motherhood, the burden of searching, the generational trauma, cyclical patterns, all told through nature which holds memories and people whose lives intersect the main characters. It is the story of mother Edith and her daughter Ruby—who wants to leave but later always sees home as something on the horizon—and Ruth's daughter Ori—whose life is shaped by Ruth's actions and decisions. The writing is certainly the strongest part of the book.
I think I went in expecting something like Daisy Johnson's Everything Under and Sisters (Highly recommend both! They made me fall in love with Daisy Johnson's writing). This felt different, perhaps less lyrical (yet lyrical), less atmospheric (yet atmospheric), more heavy and intense.
Thank you to the publisher for an ARC. All opinions are my own.
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I think I went in expecting something like Daisy Johnson's Everything Under and Sisters (Highly recommend both! They made me fall in love with Daisy Johnson's writing). This felt different, perhaps less lyrical (yet lyrical), less atmospheric (yet atmospheric), more heavy and intense.
Thank you to the publisher for an ARC. All opinions are my own.
Blog | Instagram | Threads | X (Twitter) | Newsletter
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Daisy Johnson burst onto the literary scene with her 2018 Booker shortlisted folk-horror tinged, emotionally charged Everything Under (which I loved). Her second novel turned purer horror into poetry with Sisters, which felt linguistically more experimental than her debut, and again showed her skill at crafting miniatures on the page, little short stories within larger narratives, that create a beautiful whole. It is no surprise that Johnson is also a talented short story writer.
Long Wave then continues the Johnson tradition of imbuing the everyday with a splash of unnerving energy. This is a story of mothers and daughters. Our focal point is the stories of Ori and Ruth, their primal need to protect and nurture, and the loss and longing that this can bring. Through finely crafted sentences Johnson pulls us into their world, a world familiar to us, and yet imbued with something more that makes Long Wave dazzle.
I absolutely adored Long Wave and read it through in one sitting. Daisy Johnson has become one of our finest novelists, and I am already looking forward to her next work.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.
Long Wave then continues the Johnson tradition of imbuing the everyday with a splash of unnerving energy. This is a story of mothers and daughters. Our focal point is the stories of Ori and Ruth, their primal need to protect and nurture, and the loss and longing that this can bring. Through finely crafted sentences Johnson pulls us into their world, a world familiar to us, and yet imbued with something more that makes Long Wave dazzle.
I absolutely adored Long Wave and read it through in one sitting. Daisy Johnson has become one of our finest novelists, and I am already looking forward to her next work.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Long Wave is a novel of themes and imagery - motherhood, freedom, the river, the island, hares - it's all arranged with care, but I felt a little as if the characters existed to forward the themes rather than the themes breathing through them. It all sits a little on the surface.
Johnson's hypnotic prose is at its best when it's pulsating with the heat of summer, dark and dreamy, all feeding into an inevitable, cyclical rhythm. The atmosphere shimmers off the page. I found myself waiting for the unexpected, for the story to break its own spell, but it unfurls exactly as you expect it to, right until the very end.
A gorgeous mood piece, absolutely. But one that left me wishing for a little more depth to dive into.
*Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*
Johnson's hypnotic prose is at its best when it's pulsating with the heat of summer, dark and dreamy, all feeding into an inevitable, cyclical rhythm. The atmosphere shimmers off the page. I found myself waiting for the unexpected, for the story to break its own spell, but it unfurls exactly as you expect it to, right until the very end.
A gorgeous mood piece, absolutely. But one that left me wishing for a little more depth to dive into.
*Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*
Review of advance copy
Classic Daisy Johnson, it all comes together at the end and I cry a lot
Written in her beautiful lyrical style, this is a novel of many narratives and timelines woven together, three generations of women and a reflection on motherhood and struggle, what it means to dream and search for someone, how to carry the burden of searching, how to hold the knocking stones and say ‘I am here’.
A departure in the sense of very little magical realism apart from some time slippage and hares, but obviously still brilliant.
Disclaimer I work for PRH (not in production), opinions my own!
Written in her beautiful lyrical style, this is a novel of many narratives and timelines woven together, three generations of women and a reflection on motherhood and struggle, what it means to dream and search for someone, how to carry the burden of searching, how to hold the knocking stones and say ‘I am here’.
A departure in the sense of very little magical realism apart from some time slippage and hares, but obviously still brilliant.
Disclaimer I work for PRH (not in production), opinions my own!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews