{"product_id":"delphi-claire-pollard-9780241995266","title":"Delphi Claire Pollard","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Vivid as fireworks ... Both terrifying and exhilarating'' \u003c\/b\u003eDoireann Ní Ghríofa, author of \u003ci\u003eA Ghost in the Throat\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Funny and sharp ... A hungry book, looking everywhere and seeing everything'' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eObserver\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn a time more turbulent than any of us could have ever imagined, a woman is attempting to write a book about prophecy in the ancient world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNavigating the tightening grip of lockdown, a marriage in crisis, and a ten-year-old son who seems increasingly unreachable, she becomes fixated on our many forms of divination and prediction: on oracles, tarot cards and tea leaves and the questions we have always asked as we scroll and click and rage against our fates.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut in doing so she fails to notice the future creeping into the heart of her own home. For despite our best intentions - our sacrifices and our bargains with the gods - time, certainty and, sometimes, those we love, can still slip away ...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHeartbreakingly relatable an\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eInviting\u003c\/b\u003e,\u003cb\u003e stylish \u003c\/b\u003eand \u003cb\u003ecandid\u003c\/b\u003e ... Pollard's future, as a novelist, is \u003cb\u003every bright indeed\u003c\/b\u003e * The i *\u003cbr\u003eFor anyone looking for ways of \u003cb\u003ethinking creatively and with love about art in an emergency\u003c\/b\u003e and what just happened to us all I would recommend it, because despite the bleakness - you can't have realism without bleakness now - this is \u003cb\u003eclever, warm and funny writing\u003c\/b\u003e -- Sarah Moss * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFunny \u003c\/b\u003eand \u003cb\u003esharp\u003c\/b\u003e ... \u003cb\u003eRipe\u003c\/b\u003e with references and allusions ... \u003ci\u003eDelphi\u003c\/i\u003e is not just a novel about Covid; it's also about how a given historical moment such as the pandemic can \u003cb\u003econnect us to \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ethe past and to the universal\u003c\/b\u003e -- John Self * Observer *\u003cbr\u003eThis isn't the first - and most certainly won't be the last - pandemic novel, but it might be \u003cb\u003ethe most brilliant\u003c\/b\u003e ... As a scribe of the present, Pollard, who is a successful poet and playwright, \u003cb\u003eoften recalls Ali Smith\u003c\/b\u003e. But whereas Smith's formula has lately seemed rather stale, Pollard's novel is \u003cb\u003econsistently inspired\u003c\/b\u003e, and \u003cb\u003ewill keep you gripped all the way through to the heart-stopping finale\u003c\/b\u003e * Daily Mail *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIf you're a fan of Greek mythology, you'll enjoy \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eDelphi\u003c\/b\u003e ...\u003c\/i\u003e What I loved most about this quick read is the \u003cb\u003estraight-talking, frustrated narrative voice\u003c\/b\u003e, which \u003cb\u003efeels so real and relatable\u003c\/b\u003e ... There's something\u003cb\u003e strangely comforting\u003c\/b\u003e about seeing the messiness of lockdown life through fictional eyes * Stylist *\u003cbr\u003eSet in the dark days of the 2020 lockdowns, this \u003cb\u003emoodily relatable narrative\u003c\/b\u003e introduces a protagonist who, faced with a global pandemic and a marriage in crisis, looks to the ancient art of prophecy for consolation ... \u003cb\u003eThis is a powerful fable about life in an ever-more unpredictable world\u003c\/b\u003e * Harper’s Bazaar, 15 brilliant debut novels to discover now *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eDelphi \u003c\/i\u003edistils something elusive and upsetting about all the things we can't quite see or understand about the present moment, even as all we ever do is look. This feels \u003cb\u003eimpressive\u003c\/b\u003e, part of \u003cb\u003ewhat good fiction is meant to do\u003c\/b\u003e * New York Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDarkly funny\u003c\/b\u003e ... This book does a \u003cb\u003esuperb\u003c\/b\u003e job of providing perspective by connecting our present moment to ancient history in a way that's \u003cb\u003eclever \u003c\/b\u003eand \u003cb\u003esurprising\u003c\/b\u003e. \u003cb\u003eFor fans of Jenny Offill, Ottessa Moshfegh and Sally Rooney\u003c\/b\u003e, here's another \u003cb\u003ehot sad girl book\u003c\/b\u003e to add to your list * Buzzfeed *\u003cbr\u003eThere's a \u003cb\u003erefreshing acerbity\u003c\/b\u003e to the central character in \u003ci\u003eDelphi\u003c\/i\u003e ... \u003ci\u003eDelphi\u003c\/i\u003e is an \u003cb\u003eangry\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003ewitty\u003c\/b\u003e, at times \u003cb\u003edespairing\u003c\/b\u003e account of one woman's lockdown * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFinally\u003c\/b\u003e, a \u003cb\u003ebrilliantly funny and sad\u003c\/b\u003e look into the heart of the pandemic lockdown... Pollard's debut novel, \u003ci\u003eDelphi\u003c\/i\u003e, is \u003cb\u003ea greatest hits of COVID-era angst \u003c\/b\u003ethat \u003cb\u003emanages to avoid cliches and tired complaints\u003c\/b\u003e while being \u003cb\u003ereassuringly familiar \u003c\/b\u003eat the same time... \u003cb\u003eThis is the COVID novel I've been wanting to read\u003c\/b\u003e - the COVID novel that \u003cb\u003efeels brilliantly true to real life while elevating the monotonous drag of lockdown into something funny, sad and universal\u003c\/b\u003e... [in] \u003cb\u003ecompact, concise language\u003c\/b\u003e... Characters, settings and even whole scenes are drawn in quick, \u003cb\u003eexquisite precision full of wit and pathos\u003c\/b\u003e. Its intimacy reminded me of \u003cb\u003eSally Rooney\u003c\/b\u003e and its subtle, sly humor of \u003cb\u003eMiriam Toews\u003c\/b\u003e' \u003ci\u003eAll My Puny Sorrows\u003c\/i\u003e... \u003cb\u003ea reassuring reflection in the darkness\u003c\/b\u003e * San Francisco Chronicle *\u003cbr\u003eAn \u003cb\u003eingenious\u003c\/b\u003e response to Covid, combining ancient Greek prophecy with the daily frustrations of lockdown to face up to our fears for the future * Guardian, Best Fiction of 2022 *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLyrical\u003c\/b\u003e and \u003cb\u003eambitious\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003ehumorous\u003c\/b\u003e and \u003cb\u003edisturbing \u003c\/b\u003eat points, \u003ci\u003eDelphi \u003c\/i\u003eis a \u003cb\u003erelatable\u003c\/b\u003e tale ... \u003ci\u003eDelphi\u003c\/i\u003e gets to the heart of what we might not see coming when the future isn't on our radar * The Skinny *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eDelphi\u003c\/i\u003e [...] deftly utilises the occult world to shine an unflinching light on domestic mundanity, midlife anxiety and our changed relationship with the future ... Pollard takes care to demonstrate that amidst overwhelming, life-altering experiences,\u003cb\u003e we can find comfort in small miracles and moments \u003c\/b\u003e- a smile from a loved one, or recovery from illness.\u003cb\u003e An important reminder that there is a sense of hope and contentment to be found in the present\u003c\/b\u003e * Buzz Magazine *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDelphi\u003c\/i\u003e is a triumph of sly observation, wit and tragedy\u003c\/b\u003e... \u003cb\u003edark and dangerous,\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003edisturbed and disturbing in equal measure - I loved it.\u003c\/b\u003e * Anna Hope, author of Expectation *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eConsoling, harrowing, hilarious. I feel like it's healed me ...Pollard's narrator is so funny and so radically honest it leaves you reeling\u003c\/b\u003e * Luke Kennard, author of Notes on the Sonnets *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDelphi\u003c\/i\u003e is a compact miracle of a book\u003c\/b\u003e * Evie Wyld, author of The Bass Rock *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBold, brave and uncompromising, Pollard has found a way to write about the last couple of years which is both truthful and enjoyable to read, which I didn't think was possible. Exhilarating, exciting, rare and beautiful\u003c\/b\u003e * Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of Write It All Down *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eVivid as fireworks, \u003ci\u003eDelphi \u003c\/i\u003eexplodes with the ambivalence, rage and dread of middle years lived within a world of pandemic and climate collapse. Both terrifying and exhilarating\u003c\/b\u003e * Doireann Ní Ghríofa, author of A Ghost in the Throat *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eUsing language that charms and beguiles, Clare Pollard cleverly creates moments of the darkest déjà vu, so that I was swept up into a story which I was both unnerved and reassured to recognise\u003c\/b\u003e * Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDelphi \u003c\/i\u003edelivers an urgency unlike any I've experienced. I loved this book so much; the language, the humour, the style, which reminded me of both Patricia Lockwood and Sheila Heti. A brilliant novel born of searing eloquence and sinister wit\u003c\/b\u003e * Jackie Polzin, author of Brood *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48733437755735,"sku":"9780241995266","price":9.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780241995266.jpg?v=1720000077","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/delphi-claire-pollard-9780241995266","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}