It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide
Greta and Valdin

Greta and Valdin

Summary

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2024

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

'Delightfully confident . . . a total pleasure' TIMES

'Warm, witty and utterly idiosyncratic' ALICE SLATER

'Hilarious, touching and hotly sublime' JULIA ARMFIELD

'Lovable and joyful' NEW YORK TIMES

A BROTHER. A SISTER. A LOT OF EMOTION IN ONE APARTMENT.

This is the story of Greta and Valdin: twenty-something brother and sister with a near-unpronounceable surname, a sprawling Maori-Russian-Catalonian family and questionable taste in partners.

While Valdin can’t seem to get over his ex-boyfriend who fled the country, Greta has an unrequited crush on fellow English tutor Holly, who uses her for admin support. But all hope is not lost for these lovelorn siblings. Through the misadventures and mess of modern adulthood, at least they still have each other — unless drama gets in the way.

From bad dates to family feuds and embarrassing karaoke nights, this acclaimed bestseller from New Zealand is a fresh, heartwarming and hilarious story about the trials and tribulations of love in its many forms.

Reviews

  • Reilly’s voice is delightfully confident . . . Greta & Valdin is a fantasy — specifically, one about the kind of quirky, progressive, dramatic-but-not-traumatic family everyone daydreams about. And for that reason I think lots of people will find it a total pleasure
    Times

About the author

Rebecca K Reilly

Rebecca K Reilly (Ngaati Hine, Ngaati Rehua Ngaatiwai ki Aotea) is a Maaori novelist from Waitaakere, New Zealand. She has a BA (hons) in German and European studies from the University of Auckland and an MA from the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington, where she won the Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing for 2019.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more