Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies
30 March 2023Synopsis
Winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize
Shortlisted: Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year – Goldsmiths Prize – Betty Trask Prize
Longlisted: Booker Prize – Dylan Thomas Prize
Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies is a story of coming-of-age at the end of a life. Utterly heart-breaking yet darkly funny, Maddie Mortimer’s debut is a symphonic journey through one woman’s body: a celebration of desire, forgiveness, and the darkness within us all.
‘Original, memorable, shimmering’ – Sarah Moss, author of Ghost Wall
Lia has only one child, Iris; her magical, awkward, endlessly creative daughter who has just entered the battleground of her teenage years. Lia and Iris have always been close, but there is a war playing out inside Lia’s body, too, and everything is about to change.
As she confronts what might be the end, memories of her own childhood and a passionate love affair come rushing into her present, unearthing buried secrets and her family’s deepest fears. But Lia still has hope . . . for more time, for more love, for more Iris.
The Sunday Times Book of the Year
'Restlessly inventive . . . delicate and persuasive' – The Guardian
‘Extraordinary, kaleidoscopic’ – Daisy Johnson, author of Everything, Under
Details
30 March 2023
9781529069389Reviews
Remarkable . . . A tearjerker, but it's hopeful too . . . Brave, inventive and matureSunday Times
Here is a book to dance and sing about. An extraordinary, kaleidoscopic dive into languageDaisy Johnson, Man Booker-shortlisted author of Everything, Under
Compelling and uplifting . . . undeniably impressive: Mortimer is clearly a talent to watchTelegraph
An original and memorable novel written in shimmering prose. The characters stayed with me long after I’d finished readingSarah Moss, Women's Prize-shortlisted author of Ghost Wall and Summerwater
