The Odyssey

(Paperback)

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Description

Surreal, scathing and ever so slightly unhinged - a wicked satire on modern life from the prize-winning author of Supper Club Ingrid has spent the past five years of her life working on the world's largest cruise ship. In that time, she has completed hundreds of meaningless tasks. She has watched dozens of long-term guests kick the bucket. She has made a grand total of two friends. And she has barely set foot on land. Now at last Ingrid has a chance to make something of herself. The ship's (highly myserious and reclusive) captain has chosen her, out of thousands of employees, to enter a special, secret club. All he asks in return is total co-operation . . .

Reviews

Slyly poignant and wickedly funny... A serious vibe * Cosmopolitan *
Readers who enjoy Melissa Broder and Ottessa Moshfegh will appreciate this surreal trip through a troubled woman's psyche * Booklist *
Lara Williams is the queen of smart modern satire. I could read her all day -- Emma Jane Unsworth, author of 'Adults'
Williams succeeds in satirising the seemingly unmockable: the overwhelming absurdities of modern life... * Literary Review *
I have never read anything like this... Deliciously unpredictable -- Mateo Askaripour, author of 'Black Buck'
Equal parts satire and elegy, coming from the very edge of the abyss... Unsettling, risk-taking, profoundly moving - I loved it -- Livia Franchini, author of 'Shelf Life'
Astonishing, subversive and darkly funny - another dazzler of a novel from Lara Williams -- Zeba Talkhani, author of 'My Past is a Foreign Country'
Mischievous and thought-provoking * Sheerluxe *
Slyly humorous, sharp, courageous and at times devastating... The Odyssey is a wildly original satire -- Frances Cha, author of 'If I Had Your Face'

Author Bio

Lara Williams is the author of Treats and Supper Club. Treats was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, the Edinburgh First Book Award and the Saboteur Awards and longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, and Supper Club won the Guardian 'Not the Booker' Prize, was named as a Book of the Year 2019 by TIME and Vogue, and has been translated into six languages. Lara Williams lives in Manchester and is a contributor to the Guardian, Independent, Times Literary Supplement, Vice, Dazed and others.