The Rachel Papers A Novel

By: Martin Amis

Published by Picador, 2026-02-17

Martin Amis’s first novel, The Rachel Papers, tells the story of Charles Highway and his relationship with his girlfriend in the year before going to university—with a new introduction by Paul Murray.

Charles Highway, a bright, egotistical Oxford student and soon-to-be Great Novelist, spends the eve of his twentieth birthday reflecting on his adolescence—at times stimulating, often embarrassing, and never nearly as debauched as he’d have liked.

Until he meets Rachel Noyes, an elusive, unattainable, manic pixie mystery of a girl whom Charles quickly becomes entranced by. He meticulously draws up battle plans and strategies for how to seduce Rachel, and thus the “Rachel Papers” are born.

Unflinchingly honest, comedically brilliant, and unapologetically original, Martin Amis’s first novel, The Rachel Papers, is a masterful account of the passion and fickleness of first lust—and love.