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Like every other girl in her class, twelve-year-old Justine is drawn to her glamorous, charismatic new teacher, and longs to be her pet. However, when a thief begins to target the school, Justine’s sense that something isn’t quite right grows ever stronger.
With each twist of the plot, this gripping story of deception and the corrosive power of guilt takes a yet darker turn. Young as she is, Justine must decide where her loyalties lie.
Set in New Zealand in 1984 and 2014, and probing themes of racism and misogyny, Pet is an elegant and chilling psychological thriller by the bestselling author of The Wish Child, Remote Sympathy and The Axeman’s Carnival.
‘A lingering, haunting book.’ —New York Times
‘Pet is an enthralling page-turner, laced with dark ominous themes, examining both the oppressive racism that was rampant in the 1980s and the far-reaching power of the Catholic church.’ —The Independent
‘Chidgey again displays her prodigious talent for psychological suspense and minutely evoking past eras.’ —The Guardian
‘an accomplished, hugely engaging novel with an impressive ability to compel the reader forward with elegance, verve and style’ —The Irish Times
‘utterly brilliant . . . Another truly terrific novel from one of our most talented and hardworking writers.’ —Kelly Ana Morey, NZ Listener
Catherine Chidgey’s novels have been published to international acclaim. Her first, In a Fishbone Church, won Best First Book at the New Zealand Book Awards and at the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (South East Asia and South Pacific). In the UK it won the Betty Trask Award and was longlisted for the Orange Prize. Her second, Golden Deeds, was a Notable Book of the Year in the New York Times Book Review and a Best Book in the LA Times. Catherine has won the Prize in Modern Letters, the Katherine Mansfield Award, the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship, the Janet Frame Fiction Prize, and the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize twice for The Wish Child. Her 2020 novel, Remote Sympathy, was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. The Axeman’s Carnival (2022) won the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction. Catherine’s most recent novel is the critically acclaimed Pet (2023). She lives in Ngāruawāhia and lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Waikato.
Cover design: Todd Atticus
