She might have found fame as the spokesperson for things going wrong, but there’s no denying Elizabeth Day has a way of tapping into the zeitgeist. Today, the author and host of the chart-topping podcast How to Fail publishes her fifth novel, Magpie (HarperCollins), a psychological thriller exploring jealousy, motherhood and power. It follows Marisa, who’s finally found the steadfast love and support she’s been looking for her whole life with new boyfriend Jake. Before long, they move in together and start trying for a baby; but their relationship is tested when a new lodger, Kate, begins to take an unhealthy interest in the happy couple’s personal lives.
“At first, I thought Magpie would be a stereotypical domestic thriller in the vein of The Woman in the Window or The Girl on The Train; but it’s a deft portrayal of the crippling anxiety and fear that so many women experience in relation to their biological clock,” says Stylist’s Lucy Robson. “Where Day absolutely excels is that she manages to craft what can feel like an all-consuming panic around fertility into a domestic noir, with a jaw-dropping twist which keeps you guessing as to the motives of the main characters until the very last chapter. This is a heartbreaking but incredibly important read for women about the path to motherhood – however it may (or may not) come to them.” £14.99, bookshop.org