The Pharmacist: The must-read, gripping speculative thriller debut of 2022

Thirsty Animals is a thrilling book by Rachelle Atalla that was shortlisted for the Scottish Fiction Book of the Year. It is a compulsive, claustrophobic, but wonderfully compassionate read set within a brilliantly realized world. The protagonist, Wolfe, is safe and employed as the bunker's pharmacist, doling out medicine under the watchful eye of their increasingly erratic and paranoid leader. However, when the leader starts to ask things of Wolfe, favors she can hardly say no to, it seems her luck is running out. She must navigate the powder keg of life underground, where one misstep will light the fuse. The book is beautifully written and utterly gripping, and will be a guaranteed conversation starter when it is published. It is a powerful and memorable debut from an exciting new voice.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 368 pages
Publication date: 10 November 2022
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Don't miss Rachelle Atalla's new thrilling book, Thirsty Animals!


Out now!


Shortlisted for the Scottish Fiction Book of the Year!




Rachelle Atalla's impressive debut, The Sunday Times, Paperback of the Week, is a horrendously claustrophobic, utterly absorbing novel that beautifully translates the horrendous grip of dismal routines and tiny, stolen pleasures. The fiercely controlled narrative is a compulsive, claustrophobic, but wonderfully compassionate read, beautifully written and set within a brilliantly realised world. Rachelle Atalla is a major talent, and I can't wait to see where her mind goes next.




Kirstin Innes, author of Scabby Queen, says:


"Atalla's speculative literary thriller debut draws you in with its mounting sense of tension, disquiet, and desperation. The bunker is designed to keep them all safe. In the end, very few people made it to the bunker. Now they wait there for the outside world to heal.




Wolfe is one of the lucky ones. She's safe and employed as the bunker's pharmacist, doling out medicine under the watchful eye of their increasingly erratic and paranoid leader.




But is it the place of greatest danger?




When the leader starts to ask things of Wolfe, favors she can hardly say no to, it seems her luck is running out. Forming an unlikely alliance with the young Doctor Stirling, her troubled assistant Levitt, and Canavan - a tattooed giant of a man whose purpose in the bunker is a mystery - Wolfe must navigate the powder keg of life underground, where one misstep will have dire consequences.




Thirsty Animals is a must-read for fans of psychological suspense and gripping storytelling. Don't miss out on this thrilling book!

Weight: 262g
Dimension: 130 x 198 x 35 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781529342147