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Image of a book cover featuring a red background with a large white rectangular panel in the centre. Inside this panel is a smaller red rectangle with a book cover design on it. This design has the silhouette of a keyhole. In the keyhole is an illustration of a house on a hill and water in front of it. Across the top half of the image, the title appears in large black uppercase letters reading: “THE ENDING WRITES ITSELF.” At the top, a single red droplet of blood drips down near at the left edge of the white panel. At the bottom of the cover, the author’s name “EVELYN CLARKE” is printed in large black uppercase letters.

ABOUT THIS BOOK

PUBLISHER: HQ HarperCollins

ISBN: 9780008739270

RRP: £16.99

PAGES: 352

PUBLICATION DATE:
April 9, 2026

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The Ending Writes Itself

By Evelyn Clarke

Evelyn Clarke is the pseudonym for Number One Sunday Times bestselling author V.E. Schwab, and screenwriter and YA author Cat Clarke.

SELECTED FOR 2026 ONES TO WATCH:

Daily Express, Daily Mirror, Radio Times, BBC News Online, Stylist, Scotland on Sunday, The Herald Scotland, My Weekly, The Scotsman, Muddy Stilettos Berkshire

* * * *

It’s the perfect plot. All it needs is a killer ending.

Six authors.

One private island.

Seventy-two hours to write the ending.

* * * *

World-famous author Arthur Fletch is dead. His final novel, the most anticipated book in history, remains unfinished. But the ending won’t write itself.

When six struggling authors are invited to Fletch’s private Scottish island and presented with the opportunity of a lifetime, the plot thickens: whoever writes a worthy ending will receive a game-changing book deal and two million dollars.

Why have they been chosen to attend? Who is behind the invitation? And just how far would they go to secure a place on the bestseller list?

They have just seventy-two hours, a typewriter and a blank page. All they have to do is write…

Starting is often the hardest part. But getting to the end could be murder.

Reviews of The Ending Writes Itself

‘In the running for the best mystery of 2026’ – Stephen King

'A cracking read' – Val McDermid

‘Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None meets Yellowface… Great fun!’ – Kate Mosse

‘A great locked-room thriller and a brilliant satire on the publishing industry’ – Karin Slaughter

‘A hugely entertaining and thrilling locked-room thriller’ – B A Paris

'Full of twists and turns … A must-read for any mystery fan!' – G.T. Karber

‘Fiendishly clever and compulsively readable… An absolute must read’ – Ellery Lloyd

‘I was absolutely hooked from the beginning and then practically inhaled the rest of the novel. It's funny, razor sharp and scarily relatable! I laughed and I winced. I hated and adored seeing my friends in publishing portrayed so cleverly/accurately/sardonically. The twists and turns are gorgeously unexpected and the characters brilliantly drawn. I just know readers will LOVE it as much as I did.’ – Sarah Crossan

'A wonderfully twisty mystery that plays with all the tropes we know so well. An absolute delight to read!' – Phoenicia Rogerson

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Evelyn Clarke (Author)

It was a dark and stormy night (well, it was actually an unusually warm evening in Edinburgh, Scotland) when Number One Sunday Times bestselling author V.E. Schwab, known for The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, proposed an absurd idea to longtime friend and screenwriter Cat Clarke: that they should write a book together. Victoria had made quite a name for herself, but had sworn she’d never co-write a novel.

While Cat, following a tumultuous career as an editor and the author of several YA novels, including Girlhood and Entangled, had fled the publishing industry to work in the even more tumultuous film industry, swearing she’d never return to books.

And yet, fate – and an irresistible idea – made liars of them both.

That night, Evelyn Clarke was born.