OMINATED FOR THE CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR WRITING 2026SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG READERS AWARDS 2025"[A] big-hearted tale of one awkward teenager's split life between reality and the internet, the kind of book you wish that boy from Adolescence had read [...] A brilliant, heartfelt book about now." - The Times, Children's Book of the WeekExistor is the most popular guy in school. Fred is the loser with no friends. And nobody knows they're the same person.
Online, Fred goes by Existor@stmarks. His alter ego is the best gamer around - constantly on a winning streak, with tonnes of followers, and the confidence to go with it. But offline, Fred's life is miserable.
His dad's always working, his mum's struggling, and at school, everyone looks straight through him. Until Existor's notoriety spreads to his school, and Fred sees an opportunity: everyone listens to what Existor has to say, so why not use that?Soon, Fred is coming up with outlandish rumours about his classmates, and everyone's lapping it up. His bullies are shunned, and people are finally taking notice of him.
But it's a slippery slope and Fred struggles to keep track of all the stuff he's posted as his lies start to wreak unexpected havoc. Fred will have to answer for his crimes against reality, but will he ever find someone to like him for who he really is? A HILARIOUS TEEN COMEDY ABOUT FIGURING OUT WHO YOU ARE ONLINE AND OFFLINE!
