A literary star ascending makes her UK debut with a novel about the funniest people's saddest stories

'Utterly charming ... Bordas is an invaluable new voice' George Saunders 'A disquisition into the nature of comedy and creativity. Like the best comedians ... Bordas is alert to the deeper joke' Sunday Times 'Marvellously engaging and entertaining ... full of terrific moments and cutting dialogue' Independent Every comedian knows that there's a line between sharp and cruel, that sad becomes funny at the right angle, that any moment in life, however painful or triumphant, can be turned into a punchline. But at the Chicago Stand-up School, it seems as if the students and teachers are just too wounded, mixed up, self-involved or fearful to land the joke. It's unclear whether the visiting tutor - successful, controversial Manny Reinhardt - will help or hinder their progress. Set over the course of a single day, The Material examines life through the eyes of these misfits bound together by the need to laugh, and to make others laugh even harder. 'This novel is so smart. Camille Bordas has exposed the "material" of stand-up by making stand-up her material. Brilliance is on display here' Percival Everett, Booker-shortlisted author of James

"A disquisition into the nature of comedy and creativity. Like the best comedians ... Bordas is alert to the deeper joke" - Sunday Times

"It's funny, intelligent and has much to say about how we live now" - Financial Times

"Amusing... impressive" - New York Times

"Marvellously engaging and entertaining ... full of terrific moments and cutting dialogue" - Independent

"Fully imagined ... often effortless" - Observer

"Surprising and powerful ... The Material is often acutely insightful and sometimes very, very funny. Recommended" - Irish Times

"An invigorating blend of earnest soul-searching and hilarious set-pieces ... The Material is literary fiction at its most ambitious and accessible. Encore!" - Buzz Magazine

"Skilful, engrossing ... the characters are fully realized, immediately present to the reader, and Bordas's observations are sharp" - Times Literary Supplement

"Funny, intelligent and has much to say about how we live now" - Financial Times

"There's definitely a quirky wryness here ... When we can't explain why something was funny, we say: You had to be there. This is the fictional embodiment of that kind of mic drop." - Spectator

"Smart, compelling and witty" - i Paper

"Brilliant" - Literary Review

"Thoughtful ... Bordas is so funny herself, her observations about the narcissism and insularity of creative types are very good and her deadpan delivery means they tend to land. She proceeds with a spry, associative logic" - London Review of Books