Half His Age
Published on 20. January 2026
Book
Hardback
278 pages
978-0-00-861769-1 (ISBN)
Description
The highly anticipated, funny, sad, thrilling novel about sex, class, desire, and power - and the (often misguided) lengths we'll go to to get what we want, from Jennette McCurdy, the three-million copy, Sunday Times bestselling author of I'm Glad My Mom Died.
Waldo is ravenous. Horny. Blunt. Naive. Wise. Impulsive. Lonely. Angry. Hurting. Endlessly wanting. And the thing she wants most of all? Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher.
Mr Korgy, with the wife and the kid and the mortgage and the bills, with the dead dreams and the atrophied looks and the growing paunch. She doesn't know why she wants him. Is it his passion? His life experience? The fact that he knows books and films that she doesn't? Or are they actually kindred spirits, sharing the same filter with which they each take in the world around them? Or, perhaps, it's just enough that he sees her when no one else does.
Startlingly perceptive, mordantly funny, and keenly poignant, Half His Age is an incisive study of a yearning seventeen-year-old who disregards all obstacles in her effort to be seen, to be desired and to be loved.
Waldo is ravenous. Horny. Blunt. Naive. Wise. Impulsive. Lonely. Angry. Hurting. Endlessly wanting. And the thing she wants most of all? Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher.
Mr Korgy, with the wife and the kid and the mortgage and the bills, with the dead dreams and the atrophied looks and the growing paunch. She doesn't know why she wants him. Is it his passion? His life experience? The fact that he knows books and films that she doesn't? Or are they actually kindred spirits, sharing the same filter with which they each take in the world around them? Or, perhaps, it's just enough that he sees her when no one else does.
Startlingly perceptive, mordantly funny, and keenly poignant, Half His Age is an incisive study of a yearning seventeen-year-old who disregards all obstacles in her effort to be seen, to be desired and to be loved.
Reviews / Votes
'Jennette McCurdy writes sentences that glimmer and cut like razors. With Half His Age, she delivers a deeply felt and humorous tale about the dangers of youth and desire. This novel is uncomfortable, unpredictable, and unputdownable.' Aria Aber, author of Good Girl'A riveting examination of lust and self-delusion, and a sly reminder that our worst mistakes can sometimes lead us stumbling toward the light. McCurdy is a fearless and darkly funny writer with an unerring eye for the perfect mortifying detail.' Tom Perrotta, author of Election
PRAISE FOR I'M GLAD MY MOM DIED...
'Jennette McCurdy is the queen of lemonade from lemons, using her trauma to weave a painfully funny story that also illuminates the commodification of teenage girls in America. An important cultural document just as much as a searingly personal one' Lena Dunham
"How can a book be so sad and also so funny? It's an art, and Jennette McCurdy has mastered it' Jenny Lawson, New York Times bestselling author of Furiously Happy
'The number-one New York Times-bestselling memoir that has also achieved pop-cultural phenomenon status. McCurdy distinguishes herself from standard-issue celebrity memoir fare with a vivid, biting, darkly comic tone and an immersive present tense' Vogue
"A stunning memoir. McCurdy reveals herself to be a stingingly funny and insightful writer, capable of great empathy and a brutal punchline'Time
'A coming-of-age story that is alternately harrowing and funny' The New York Times
'A magnum opus. Sharply funny and empathetic' The Washington Post
'The publishing sensation that-in short, punchy sentences delivered with a high level of self-perception-could transform the trauma memoir business' Guardian
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
HarperCollins Publishers
Dimensions
Height: 219 mm
Width: 137 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
395 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-00-861769-1 (9780008617691)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Jennette McCurdy is the Sunday Times bestselling author of I'm Glad My Mom Died, winner of the 2023 American Library Association Alex Award and the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award for Memoir & Autobiography. The book has been published in more than thirty countries and has sold more than three million copies. McCurdy is creating, writing, executive producing, and showrunning an Apple TV+ series loosely inspired by I'm Glad My Mom Died, starring Jennifer Aniston. Half His Age is her debut novel.