A woman walks into a gym and lies to get a job.

The gym is a palace of possibility. Here she can transform. Become unrecognisable.

No more presentations or promotions or emails.

She can push herself to her limits, then push past them. Lie some more. Perfect her body, and never lose control again.

And she can finally get her probation officer off her back.

But we can never really escape who we are. People start asking questions but she can't let them take this new life from her. They obviously don't know the things she's capable of.

Gym is Verena Kessler's sweat-slicked, painfully funny novel about obsession, ambition and a woman's doomed attempt to run from herself.