The latest from bestselling author of We Need to Talk About Kevin and The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047, Lionel Shriver, is a story of an obsession, of a marriage, and of betrayal.
Allergic to group activities of any kind, all her life Serenata has run, swum, and cycled – on her lonesome. But now that she’s hit 60, all that physical activity has destroyed her knees. As she contemplates surgery with dread, her previously sedentary husband Remington, recently and ignominiously redundant, chooses this precise moment to discover exercise.
Which should be good for his health, right? Yet as he joins the cult of fitness that seems increasingly to consume the whole of the Western world, her once-modest husband burgeons into an unbearable narcissist. Ignoring all his other obligations in the service of extreme sport, he engages a saucy, taunting personal trainer named Bambi, who treats his wife with contempt.
When Remington announces his intention to compete in a legendarily gruelling triathlon, MettleMan, Serenata is sure he’s going to end up injured or dead – but the stubbornness of an ageing man in Lycra is not to be underestimated.
“Shriver’s intellect and talent, her political convictions and her impressive confidence are all on display… assertive, frequently funny and altogether satisfying… her confident grasp of the material and her natural gifts as a storyteller will keep you in her spell and leave you, at the end, slightly altered.” – New York Times
“Phenomenal… Shriver has the gift for making one instantly curious, entertained, involved and ready to move in – no matter what the property.” – Observer
“Shriver is brilliant.” – The Times
“Whip-smart … Crisp, conversational and convincingly true to life, Shriver’s stories are a treat.” – Daily Mail
“Shriver is the master of the neat twist.” – Daily Express
The Motion of the Body Through Space is Lionel Shriver at her hilarious, sharp-eyed, audacious best.
A widely published journalist, Lionel Shriver is the author of thirteen novels, including the New York Times bestsellers So Much for That (a finalist for the 2010 National Book Award and the Wellcome Trust Book Prize) and The Post-Birthday World (Entertainment Weekly’s 2007 Book of the Year).
Winner of the 2005 Orange prize, the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin was adapted for a feature film by Lynne Ramsay in 2011. Lionel Shriver won the BBC National Short Story award in 2014. Her twelfth novel, The Mandibles: A Family, 2029 – 2047, was a Sunday Times top ten bestseller in 2016 and her work has been translated into 28 languages.
