Stroke

Brilliantly provocative, witty and utterly addictive - a dazzling debut about the thin line between truth and deception, from the 2024 Richell Prize winner Whatever they thought they knew, they didn't know everything. No-one ever knew everything, which was as good as knowing nothing. At elite all-boys school St. Anthony's, rowing is a religion. Each early morning brings brutal discipline, bitter rivalry and fraught alliances - and that's just between the boys' mothers. Whether it's on the water or at the school drop-off, camaraderie is never far removed from competition. When a shocking allegation is revealed in the first week of a new term, the scandal reverberates through the school. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone thinks they know the truth. But as the uneasy fault lines beneath their glossy lives emerge, and their own secrets cast shadows, how much of what they see is just a reflection of themselves? How much is warped by wanting: for status, love, influence or redemption? Deeply compelling and darkly funny, Stroke asks sharp questions about privilege, perception and the stories we tell to make sense of other people. Can we ever really know someone, or ourselves? And what exactly are we capable of?