SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2020 From the author ofDept. of Speculation, a dazzling and deadpan new novel about hope and despair, fear and comfort as it plays out in these times of environmental and political turbulence 'This is so good. We are not ready nor worthy' Ocean Vuong

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTIONSHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG FICTION READERS AWARD'Stunning' Maggie O'Farrell'Gorgeous, funny and deadly serious' Max Porter'This is so good. We are not ready nor worthy' Ocean VuongAn obligatory note of hope, in a world going to hell...'What are you afraid of, he asks me and the answer of course is dentistry, humiliation, scarcity, then he says what are your most useful skills? People think I'm funny.'Lizzie Benson, a part-time librarian, is already overwhelmed with the crises of daily life when an old mentor offers her a job answering mail from the listeners of her apocalyptic podcast, Hell and High Water. Soon questions begin pouring in from left-wingers worried about climate change and right-wingers worried about the decline of Western civilization.Entering this polarized world, Lizzie is forced to consider who she is and what she can do to help: as a mother, as a wife, as a sister, and as a citizen of this doomed planet.'A barometer of how it feels to live now' Sunday Times'No one writes about the intersection of love and existential despair like Jenny Offill' Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror

Autorentext
Jenny Offill is the author of Women's-Prize-longlisted Weather as well as Dept. of Speculation (shortlisted for the Folio Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award), Last Things, and four books for children. She lives in upstate New York with her family.

Klappentext

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2020 'This is so good. We are not ready nor worthy' Ocean Vuong 'What are you afraid of, he asks me and the answer of course is dentistry, humiliation, scarcity, then he says what are your most useful skills? People think I'm funny' Lizzie Benson slid into her job as a librarian without a traditional degree. But this gives her a vantage point from which to practise her other calling: as an unofficial shrink. For years, she has supported her God-haunted mother and her recovering addict brother. They have both stabilized for the moment, but then her old mentor, Sylvia Liller, makes a proposal. Sylvia has become famous for her prescient podcast, Hell and High Water, and wants to hire Lizzie to answer the mail she receives: from left-wingers worried about climate change and right wingers worried about the decline of western civilization. As she dives into this polarized world, she begins to wonder what it means to keep tending your own garden once you've seen the flames beyond its walls. When her brother becomes a father and Sylvia a recluse, Lizzie is forced to acknowledge the limits of what she can do. But if she can't save others, then what, or who, might save her? And all the while the voices of the city keep floating in--funny, disturbing, and increasingly mad.