What happens when you reach Everest's peak? Is it everything you dreamed?
In a magnetic follow-up to Winter Animals, Ashani Lewis' debut collection takes a kaleidoscopic approach to desire - its obsessions, its grotesque demands and the distance it creates between us - and the strange things we stubbornly, hopefully, desperately expect from our lives.
A dying woman dedicates her life to Antarctic ice; an All-American star longs for a romance that defies convention - to the detriment of his carefully curated reputation; a woman seeking her exes' opinions on a breast augmentation takes us on a whirlwind tour of the complicated, intertwined lives of urbanites; a singer prepares for her film debut, pushing her humanity to its limits at an unusual acting school; a newlywed couple put their marriage to the ultimate test: Everest. In these twenty-one striking stories, Lewis creates a stark world of fleeting infatuations, violent compulsions, unexpected solace and the sombre ghost of memories.
'Thoughtful, intelligent and beautifully written . . . Lewis is definitely a new talent to watch' MARIE CLAIRE
'A dreamlike, piercing examination of privilege, youth and freedom' Cecile Pin, author of WANDERING SOULS
'Lewis is superbly talented' Katherine Rundell, author of SUPER-INFINITE and THE GOLDEN MOLE
'A remarkable novel: atmospheric as hell, beautiful and delightfully intelligent . . . Think THE SECRET HISTORY written by Raven Leilani' Jenny Mustard, author of OKAY DAYS
'Beautiful writing' FINANCIAL TIMES
'A glittering, dark-edged tale . . . Exhilarating and fabulous, I raced through it' Priscilla Morris, author of BLACK BUTTERFLIES
'Compelling' THE IRISH TIMES
'A debut full of ideas. I have the sense that this is the first of many new worlds' TELEGRAPH
