As If

Hardback Published on: 26/02/2026
Price: £16.99
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Synopsis

'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.

Publisher information

  • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
  • ISBN: 9780241779187
  • Number of pages: 192
  • Dimensions: 206 x 139 x 20 mm
  • Weight: 250g
  • Languages: English

Customer Reviews

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As If
Thoughtful and melancholic
As If by Isabel Waidner is a quietly inventive literary novel about identity, grief, and the desire to escape one’s own life. Two men who closely resemble ... READ MORE
Nemra
As If
Five stars!
As If by Isabel Waidner is a surreal, sharply observed, and quietly devastating book about grief, identity, and the lives we imagine we might have lived. ... READ MORE
The Secret Book Review
As If
Isabel Waidner does it again
As If is the new novel by Isabel Waidner, a story of two men with strangely mirrored lives who want each other's opportunities. Lewis was an actor, but sin... READ MORE
Siobhan Dunlop
This reviewer received a free of charge product for review.
As If
Brilliant.
I first came across Isabel Waidner in 2017 – a playfully experimental German-British author, cultural theorist and University teacher - who disassembles fi... READ MORE
Graham Fulcher
This reviewer received a free of charge product for review.
As If
A Strange But Compulsive Tale
3.5 Lewis is an out of work actor, once successful but now mourning the death of his wife, he is stalled in life. Lindsay has walked out on his wife and... READ MORE
Kateoshea
As If
Startlingly Original
As If, the latest novel from Isabel Waidner, is as startlingly original and challenging as any of their other works, though this one feels much more accept... READ MORE
Ben Dutton
This reviewer received a free of charge product for review.
As If
Another brilliant addition to an impressive ouevre
"Primarily, I based my performance on a combination of what I myself had seen of Korine (enough) and the fact I was navigating a set of conditions which, t... READ MORE
Paul Fulcher
As If
London like you've never seen it
Isabel Waidner's previous books have been wild rides, entertaining and imaginative but a little like hard work at times and in places. "As If" seems a lit... READ MORE
Michael Jopling
As If
Odd, and oddly charming
This, my first taste of Waidner's fiction, is an odd and oddly charming little novel about two men who essentially swap lives - that is, assuming that both... READ MORE
Eleanor Franzen
This reviewer received a free of charge product for review.