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22 October 2026
Publication Date: 22 October 2026
Format: Paperback
Extent: 288 pp
Our Price: 10.99
ISBN: 9780857309600
DIGITAL
Publication Date:8 October 2026
Format: ebook(ePub)
Our Price: 6.99
ISBN: 9780857309617
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AFTER CARE
Divya Maniar
Grace is no longer famous. She sits alone in her New York apartment, endlessly watching reruns of herself on the reality TV show Speed Daters. Then, one evening, a man breaks in through her window. A rare, still-obsessed fan or raging incel - Grace is unsure. Before she can find out, he disappears.
That same night, the world is rocked by the news that Anoushka, Grace's onscreen rival, has taken her own life. Suddenly thrust back into the public eye, Grace is thrilled to be relevant again.
But fame is fickle, and when the fans begin to turn on her, Grace escapes with her unreliable boyfriend and Speed Daters co-star Cal to his isolated cabin in the woods. With nothing but each other, can they mend what's broken without destroying what little is left?
A piercing debut exposing the toxicities of reality TV and influencer culture, After Care is a disconcertingly recognisable portrait of reckless consumerism, spectatorship and the attention economy. Perfect for fans of Eliza Clark, Caro Claire Burke, Sarah Rose Etter and Ottessa Moshfegh.
This novel contains discussions of suicide and graphic depictions of sexual assault.
READER REVIEWS FOR AFTER CARE
LATEST PRESS REVIEWS FOR After Care
new 'A sharp and existential deep dive into the morally grey. For readers who love reading philosophical literary fiction and psychoanalysing reality TV in equal measures. AFTER CARE explores themes of culpability, popularity and perception with nuance and incisiveness. Uncomfortable in the best way possible'
- Charlotte Paradise, author of Overspill
MORE PRESS REVIEWS FOR After Care
'A compelling and perceptive exploration of the dangers of seeking validation in a society that increasingly mistakes a carefully constructed existence for reality. Maniar has crafted a story I did not know I needed, but one I was deeply grateful to uncover. A wholly absorbing read'
- Oyinkan Braithwaite, author of Cursed Daughters
'A triumph of a debut. After Care is unflinching and brilliantly drawn in its portrayal of performance versus feeling, the loneliness of reality (tv), and how easily we consume young women and discard them'
- Celia Silvani, author of Just Between Mothers
'A triumph of a debut. After Care is unflinching and brilliantly drawn in its portrayal of performance versus feeling, the loneliness of reality (tv) and how easily we consume young women and discard them'
- Celia Silvani, author of Just Between Mothers and Best Day Ever
'Bold and haunting, After Care dissects the delusions of fame, parasocialism and the attention economy. Who do we become when we're being watched? And what happens when people stop? Maniar has written a taut and intricate study that refuses easy answers'
- Stacey Yu, author of Kitten
'After Care is a pitch-perfect and utterly compelling portrait of one of modern society's most ubiquitous and troubling figures - the reality TV star turned influencer - and of how far any of us might be willing to go for the illusory approval of strangers on the other side of a screen'
- Naomi Xu Elegant, author of Gingko Season
Psychologically astute and emotionally unflinching, Divya Maniar's AFTER CARE is a gripping, propulsive, and thrillingly provocative tale of one young woman's descent into the dark heart of the influencer economy. Maniar is keenly attuned to the corrosive siren call of digital attention, to the trickiness of desire and to the performance of femininity in the Instagram age. AFTER CARE is a pitch-perfect and utterly compelling portrait of one of modern society's most ubiquitous and troubling figures - the reality TV star turned influencer - and of how far any of us might be willing to go for the illusory approval of strangers on the other side of a screen
'Dark, so shrewdly observed, and written in beautiful, dreamlike prose, After Care is as compulsive as the reality TV it skewers. It made me squirm and I couldn't look away from it'
- Hannah Beer, author of I Make My Own Fun
'After Care crackles with sharp insight into the human condition and wry comment on the 21st century world it does its business in. Here is a writer to watch'
- Laird Hunt, author of Zorrie
Writing with fabulous style, humor and smarts, Divya Maniar takes up questions old and circumstances new in her brilliant first novel. After Care crackles with sharp insight into the human condition and wry comment on the 21st century world it does its business in. Here is a writer to watch
'Searing, visceral and sincerely uncomfortable, but like a deep dark doomscroll into the modern psyche, I found that I just couldn't look away. An unmissable debut. Let it jab at your tender insecurities'
- Genevieve Jagger, author of Fragile Animals
After Care is an unflinching, and unsettlingly human deconstruction of influencer culture. Oscillating between sincere vulnerability and cutthroat heartlessness, Divya Maniar dissects our digital desires for attention and validation and the tension between the self we are in person and the self we perform online. Searing, visceral and sincerely uncomfortable, but like a deep dark doomscroll into the psyche of 2026, I found that I just couldn't look away. An unmissable debut. Let it jab at your tender insecurities
'An insightful, clever and raw debut which explores influencer culture and the attention economy without judgement. Maniar is a writer to watch'
- Luan Goldie, author of Between Yesterday and Tomorrow
'Completely riveting... Will appeal to fans of Yesteryear and The Guest'
- Jemimah Wei, author of The Original Daughter
'
An edgy, ice-cool debut about the isolation and toxicity of reality tv-inflected mass media, consumerism, the hollow routines of compulsory hetrosexuality and the relentless desire to be famous but not necessarily truly seen. It reminded me a little of Jennifer Egan's prescient early novel Look At Me and My Year of Rest and Relaxation'
- Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti
'This is an excellent debut... The novel exposes the economic machinery behind online performance: attention as survival, visibility as currency. Even being surveilled by an intruder begins to feel perversely desirable. An unsettling and compassionate novel, with an exhilarating and edifying ending.'
- Seth Insua, author of Human, Animal
'This biting take on reality TV and influencer culture from a Singaporean British-based writer got right under my skin... After Care chillingly explores consumerism, the attention economy and the addictive nature of online fame. One for fans of Ottessa Moshfegh and Eliza Clark'
- The Bookseller