Description
Book SynopsisAn artist in her thirties weaves and unravels connections between the loom and the computer, DNA and technology, dreams and decisions Thread Ripper is a multi-strand novel about weaving, women, and programming. In Copenhagen, a tapestry-weaver embarks on her first big commission, a digitally woven tapestry. As she works, she draws illuminating connections between all the stuff that life is made from - DNA, plant tissue, algorithms, text and textile - and that which disrupts it - radiation, pests, entropy and doubt. In another strand, we follow Ada Lovelace, the 1830s mathematician and pioneer of computer programming. And Penelope, the faithful wife of Odysseus, who wove and unpicked a shroud to put off her 108 suitors. Contemplative yet clear-sighted, Amalie Smith's hybrid textile of a novel bares the aching but crucial interwovenness of art and life.
Trade Review'A mesmerizing choreography of textile and technology, archive and memory. With cellular precision, Amalie Smith weaves connective tissue between selfhood and history through vital, tactile accumulations of affect and imagery. Innovative, intricate and achingly bodily, Thread Ripper is a rare treasure'- Elinor Cleghorn, author of Unwell Women
