Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, 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
A Book of The Year in The Guardian, Telegraph, Irish Times, Big Issue, Vanity Fair, Dazed and i-D Magazine
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.
About the Author
Jenny Offill's novel Dept. of Speculation was shortlisted for the Folio Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award, and was chosen as a book of the year over 20 times, including by the Guardian, Daily Telegraph, FT, Daily Mail, Stylist, Observer and Vogue. She is also the author of the novel Last Things, and four books for children. She lives upstate New York with her family.
Industry Reviews
"""This is so good. We are not ready nor worthy"" - Ocean Vuong
'She's such a fine, funny writer, her observations shot through with luminous intelligence and emotional insight... glorious' - the Observer
'Do yourself a favour and buy this book' - Stylist
'Weather achieves a rare triumph - it's an uncannily realistic portrait of what it's like to be alive right now' - the Telegraph
'A fitting dance macabre for our spiralling existence... Superb' - the Independent
'There's something faintly miraculous about how Offill gets us from there to here; baby-steps from instagrammable anecdotes to a weightiness that you can feel in your stomach' - The Times
'Jenny Offill writes beautiful sentences; she is also a deft creator of silences. It's this counterpoint of eloquence and felt absence that enables her to register the emotional and political weather of our present' - Ben Lerner, author of The Topeka School
'Offill distils all our contemporary fears into one brilliant, funny and terrifying novel... The apocalypse has never been this enjoyable' - i-D Magazine
'To read a Jenny Offill novel is to come away feeling more engaged with the world and less alone' - the Irish Times
'If you've not yet discovered Offill's sublime blend of hilarity, warmth and existential despair, there's no better place to start... a marvel' - the Mail on Sunday
'A barometer of how it feels to live now' - the Sunday Times
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