Come Join Our Disease

By: Sam Byers

Narrated by: Heydon Elijah

*** '354 pages of barely mitigated filth. I think I loved it. Deeply admirable... Come Join Our Disease is so bold and interesting that I can imagine it becoming a cult classic... Byers's mastery of tone and attentiveness to every psychological shift confirms him as one of the most accomplished novelists of his generation... anything you read afterwards feels a bit half-hearted.' Sunday Times ***

The new novel from the author of Perfidious Albion, a darkly comic and profoundly affecting novel about resistance, radicalism and redemption.

Maya is homeless. When her site is razed by ruthless authorities, she's detained. But then, Maya is given a lifeline; a chance to re-enter society again. A tech company - angling to raise its philanthropic profile - offers her a job and a flat. There's one caveat: Maya must document her inspiring progress on Instagram to show that anyone can be productive; perfect.

Yet Maya realises that sickness is a kind of revolution. With other outcasts, Maya starts a movement: billboards promoting wellness are defaced all over London and her media feed is flooded with obscene, filthy images. Suddenly, questions arise about the forces unleashed: liberation and madness, protest and anarchy, rebellion and chaos.

©2021 Sam Byers (P)2021 Faber & Faber

Critic reviews

"A savvy, subtle chronicler of contemporary malaise." (Financial Times)