Fruit Fly.jpg
Fruit Fly.jpg

Fruit Fly by Josh Silver

from $11.99
Hardcover:

New York Times Bestseller

USA Today Bestseller

“A seething, hilarious, and wildly shrewd takedown of modern identity culture.”
—Caro Claire Burke, author of Yesteryear

“Impeccable, courageous and true.”
—Ocean Vuong, author of The Emperor of Gladness

Go gay. Go sad. Go dark.

A washed-up author will stop at nothing to claw her way back to relevancy—even if it means appropriating a young gay man’s tragic story.

Mallory Maddox is a novelist who hasn't finished a book in seven years and is desperate for a comeback. When she meets Leo, a young gay man living with addiction and homelessness, she decides his story is exactly the material she needs.

Fruit Fly is a satirical thriller about who gets to profit from other people's pain. As Mallory takes more from Leo's life, secrets surface that threaten far more than her career.

The book sits in the territory of publishing satire, and reviewers and booksellers have compared it to R.F. Kuang's Yellowface. Silver pairs the humor with real darkness, taking in 12-step recovery, hookup apps, and book deals.

Silver also plays with form, using punctuation and line breaks to convey altered states and shifting emotional pace. Expect dark subject matter, including addiction and abuse.

It is Josh Silver's first novel for adults, after several award-recognized young adult books. It suits readers who like their satire sharp, uncomfortable, and propulsive.

New York Times Bestseller

USA Today Bestseller

“A seething, hilarious, and wildly shrewd takedown of modern identity culture.”
—Caro Claire Burke, author of Yesteryear

“Impeccable, courageous and true.”
—Ocean Vuong, author of The Emperor of Gladness

Go gay. Go sad. Go dark.

A washed-up author will stop at nothing to claw her way back to relevancy—even if it means appropriating a young gay man’s tragic story.

Mallory Maddox is a novelist who hasn't finished a book in seven years and is desperate for a comeback. When she meets Leo, a young gay man living with addiction and homelessness, she decides his story is exactly the material she needs.

Fruit Fly is a satirical thriller about who gets to profit from other people's pain. As Mallory takes more from Leo's life, secrets surface that threaten far more than her career.

The book sits in the territory of publishing satire, and reviewers and booksellers have compared it to R.F. Kuang's Yellowface. Silver pairs the humor with real darkness, taking in 12-step recovery, hookup apps, and book deals.

Silver also plays with form, using punctuation and line breaks to convey altered states and shifting emotional pace. Expect dark subject matter, including addiction and abuse.

It is Josh Silver's first novel for adults, after several award-recognized young adult books. It suits readers who like their satire sharp, uncomfortable, and propulsive.

  • Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

    Title: Fruit Fly: A Novel

    Author: Josh Silver

    On Sale Date: August 4, 2026

    ISBN 13: 979-8-89242-636-7

    Format: Hardcover

    Retail Price: $29.99

    Page Count: 384

    Dimensions: 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches

  • Josh Silver is a British author who grew up on a Lake District farm and now lives in Manchester. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and performed in the West End and on Broadway before becoming a mental health nurse working with teenagers. His young adult novels, including HappyHead, Dead Happy, and Erase Me (published in the U.K. as Traumaland), have earned Carnegie Medal and YA Book Prize recognition, and Erase Me was named a 2025 Observer Book of the Year. Fruit Fly is his first novel for adults and was selected for the BBC's list of 12 books to read in 2026.

  • Critics and fellow authors are calling it savage, hilarious, and bold:

    • The New York Times called it a funny and nasty novel about appropriation.

    • Publishers Weekly, in a starred review, found it by turns suspenseful, provocative, and touching, a bold thriller that burrows under the skin.

    • Juno Dawson, the bestselling author of Her Majesty's Royal Coven, called it savage and darkly hilarious.

    • Ocean Vuong called it impeccable, courageous, and true.

This book is for you if

  • You enjoyed Yellowface and want another dark satire of the publishing industry.

  • You're interested in the ethics of turning someone else's suffering into a bestselling story.

  • You like thrillers that mix black comedy with real emotional weight.

  • You appreciate fiction that experiments with punctuation and line breaks to reflect a character's state of mind.

  • You're looking for a first adult novel from a writer known for award-recognized young adult fiction.

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