The Transition
LONGLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE
A RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME
What’s standing between you and success?
What do you do with a generation who’ve had everything, but still can’t grow up?
Welcome to The Transition.
While taking part in The Transition you and your partner will spend six months living under the supervision of your mentors, two successful adults of a slightly older generation. Freed from your financial responsibilities, you will be coached through the key areas of the scheme – Employment, Nutrition, Responsibility, Relationship, Finances and Self-Respect – until you are ready to be reintegrated into adult society.
At the end of your six months – who knows what discoveries you’ll have made about yourself? The ‘friends’ you no longer need. The talents you’ll have found time to nurture. The business you might have kick-started.
Who knows where you’ll be?
‘A fresh, funny and gripping vision of the near future that rings frighteningly true’ Joe Dunthorne, author of Submarine
‘Terrific. Clever and funny and a total page-turner to boot’ Nathan Filer, author of The Shock of the Fall
‘Utterly vital’ Paul Murray, author of Skippy Dies
‘Essential reading for generation rent’ Jenn Ashworth, author of Fell
”'The sort of book that cuts you off from your family and has you walking blindly through seven lanes of traffic with your face pressed obliviously to the page” - The Times
”'Richly enjoyable . . . what really makes this novel stand out is not the Black Mirror-style black comedy but the tenderly devastating portrait of mental illness. The dystopia turns out to be a love story after all” - Guardian
”'To read Luke Kennard is to experience the gleeful rush that comes with encountering a writer who has an uncanny ability to scoop the contents of your head directly onto the page” - Shortlist
”'Uncomfortably familiar . . . gripping” - Financial Times
”'That a dark technological dystopia should emanate from the suburban home of a charming and progressive middle-aged couple who love kite boarding and balanced political discourse at breakfast now seems inevitable. Luke Kennard’s brilliant first novel offers a fresh, funny and gripping vision of the near-future that rings frighteningly true” - Joe Dunthorne, author of Submarine
'Disquieting and witty but with such tenderness at its core that it's often heart-stopping. Gorgeous stuff. I devoured it' Lisa McInerney, author of The Glorious Heresies -
”'Extremely smart and extremely funny, Luke Kennard's first novel is a brilliant dismantling of our corporatized century. It also features one of the most endearingly hapless heroes since Lucky Jim. In a world where everything real has been outsourced if it can't be demolished, a book like The Transition is not just a ray of light - it's utterly vital” - Paul Murray, author of Skippy Dies
”'Essential reading for generation rent. Funny, necessary and all too close to the bone” - Jenn Ashworth, author of The Friday Gospels
”'Completely gripping - a unique idea executed with verve, confidence and razor sharp wit” - Isy Suttie
”'Black Mirror with a lighter touch. A day-after-tomorrow novel that defines a generation” - Matthew De Abaitua, author of The Red Men