'A brilliant, strange and tender exploration of what it is to fail, keep failing, and fail better' Sarah Bernstein, author of Study for Obedience

Two men meet in a flat in London. They are total strangers and yet they look remarkably alike. Lewis is grieving his dead wife; Korine is hiding from his very-much-alive one. Lewis never had children; Korine is an ambivalent parent at best. Lewis is an erstwhile actor, too depressed to attend the big audition that has just fallen into his lap. Korine has tried a dozen dead-end jobs but never pursued his acting dreams.

Two men living mirror image lives. Each seeking a second chance to get things right. Each wanting what the other has.

As If is an existential farce about the road not taken. Surreal and slyly poignant, suffused with ironic melancholia, it is a parable for the twenty-first century everyman: a character trapped in reality’s hall of mirrors, endlessly searching for something to live for.

One of Britain's most exciting writers * New Statesman, 'Best Fiction of 2026' *
Every page is exhilarating -- Deborah Levy, author of 'August Blue'
An audacious and enchanting novel, As If explores life’s alternatives—fantasies and nightmares, encounters dreaded and desired, opportunities lost and gained—in an ingenious setting. We enter its world of doubles and mirror images with a thrill and leave with a deeper understanding of our own naked hearts -- Yiyun Li, author of 'Things in Nature Merely Grow'
As If is an entirely new species of fiction: a spellbindingly clever and profound romp; an urgent exploration of contemporary masculinity in love with, and at war, with itself; a story of desire, art, and redemption. Isabel Waidner is the heir to many legends – Kafka, Bosch, Monty Python, Jonathan Swift – and their new novel summons gorgeous, canny, comedic tulips from the austerity-hammered present. A total stunner -- Jordy Rosenberg, author of 'Confessions of the Fox'
Waidner once again proves themself to be one of our most exciting and significant writers – I am in love with their smart, energetic prose . . . This brilliant novel dissects identity and performance as mechanisms of survival in the 21st century, asking what choice we have in how we live and who we become. Through doppelgängers and replacements, relation and differentiation, As If examines the selves we slip into or enact, as well as the grief and sacrifices of a life in the arts -- Peter Scalpello, author of 'Limbic'
As If holds a multiplying and expanding universe, whose characters are both wonderfully strange and wickedly human. At once twisty and delicious, beautiful and imaginative, this is a book that will surprise you in the best way possible -- Kristen Arnett, author of 'Stop Me If You've Heard This One'
Isabel Waidner turns ordinary life into a hall of mirrors, full of ironic melancholy and sly existential twists – perfect for anyone who’s ever wondered ‘what if?’ * Service 95, 'The 21 Must-Read Books To Have On Your Radar In 2026' *

Isabel Waidner is the author of five novels – including Sterling Karat Gold, which won the Goldsmiths Prize and was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and the Republic of Consciousness Prize, and Corey Fah Does Social Mobility which was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. They teach in the School of the Arts at Queen Mary University of London.