The Players

One hot summer, a group of university students gathers in an orchard to rehearse a play.

Veronika is born for a life on the stage while Felix seizes his last chance for creative freedom. Sebastian woos Veronika, and Cassie longs for Sebastian. Josh and Gloria each carry a secret they are unable to share.

Passion, rivalry and enduring connections will bind the Players across years and continents, long after the final curtain falls and they leave university behind. From Perth to Paris, Cambridge, London, Berlin and Dili the friends search for meaning in their careers and friendship, discover love and endure heartbreak.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK
‘The players merge and diverge, make and break one another, caring and careless, fearful and fearless, selfish and selfless. Meanwhile, as they stumble onwards, the mystery and pain of their pasts unfurl, keeping us engrossed to the very end … A beautiful, ambitious and moving debut. I scoffed it.’ Tim Minchin

[T]his unusually rich coming-of-age novel … follows the cast into young adulthood with a Chekhovian sense of life’s tragicomedy, and some strikingly precise characterisation.’ Sydney Morning Herald

‘It’s a rich and ambitious book.’ Limelight

‘Heartwarming and captivating … enticing to the last page.’ Bem Le Hunte

‘I just inhaled The Players … Funny, serious, emotional and profound, this novel is also exquisitely written on the line … It’s a ripper.’ John Byron

‘Funny and wise. A vivid and all too human cast of dreamers, exquisitely tuned to the bittersweet dramas of life.’ Melinda Harvey

‘The Players is an absorbing novel that held my attention throughout.’ ANZ LitLovers

‘The writing is absorbing and compelling and totally drew me in. A big recommend from me!’ @‌katie.reads.things

‘Readers of literary fiction will enjoy the complexity of all the characters, as well as the open-ended conclusion, which raises questions rather than provides simple answers to the complicated realities of life.’ Community Coast News

‘The Players … is an interesting, captivating and thought-provoking story.’ Beauty and Lace

‘High intelligence, wit, warmth, an incisive psychological acuity … There is something exquisite, and honeyed, and thoughtful, and never contemptuous in the way that …[Pike] has explored the possibilities for growth, or lack of growth, or failure, or despair … or a coming into being, a kind of transfiguration, that is all our potential, as the world … shakes us really hard. I was so impressed by this book … ‘ Geordie Williamson, critic