The Burnout
Sasha has hit the wall. Running on caffeine, unread emails, and the steady hum of low-grade dread, she finally snaps and books herself into a dilapidated seaside hotel she remembers fondly from childhood, determined to do absolutely nothing for a week. The reality is less restorative than she had hoped: the hotel is half empty, the owners are erratic, and the only other guest is Finn, another refugee from corporate burnout who insists on parking himself on her favorite stretch of beach. As a series of odd, anonymous notes and symbols begin appearing in the sand, Sasha and Finn are pulled, bickering, into a small mystery that forces each of them to confront why they came. Sophie Kinsella's novel pairs her signature comic voice with a more pointed look at modern exhaustion and the slow work of rest.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about The Burnout
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Sasha is so burned out at her London marketing job that she books a week at a quiet Cornish hotel, only to realize the hotel has gone to seed and the only other guest, Finn, is also there to fall apart.
The Burnout was written by Sophie Kinsella and published in 2023. Kinsella is best known for the Shopaholic series and a long catalog of contemporary romcoms.
No. The Burnout is a standalone, separate from Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series. Most of her later novels are independent of each other.
The Burnout is 675 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Burnout takes most readers 10 to 15 hours to finish.
The Burnout is a standalone novel by Sophie Kinsella, not part of a series.
The Burnout is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.