Eight people take part in an ecological experiment in 1990s Arizona. Inspired by real events, The Terranauts places human behaviour under the microscope to spellbinding effect

BY THE WINNER OF THE JONATHAN SWIFT PRIZE 2017 LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2018 Eight people take part in an ecological experiment in 1990s Arizona. Inspired by real events, The Terranauts places human behaviour under the microscope to spellbinding effect Linda is desperate to be one of the lucky eight chosen to take part in the world’s most ambitious ecological experiment. She knows that she can survive for two years under the glass dome of Ecosphere II, set in the Arizona desert. Competition is fierce between the hopefuls, among them smooth-talking PR man Ramsay, and Dawn, a naïve beauty. Inside the humid microcosm, the terranauts’ labours over crops and livestock, their battles with creepy crawlies, their hostilities and sexual dalliances are all observed by tourists who come to gawp, Mission Control’s cameras and the watchful eye of the media. As they struggle to control nature, and hunger sets in, the snake in this Eden starts to look unmistakably human…

"Based on a similar experiment in the Arizona desert in the 1990s, The Terranauts is funny, but not always in a way you can laugh at. Boyle’s dissections are far too accurate. One moment you’re watching the antics of a narcissistic cast; the next you’re finding it all heartbreakingly human. One thing is for certain: by the last few chapters, you know that you would pay not to live in an Elon Musk-financed habitat on Mars" - Guardian

"A sort of Frank Zappa of American letters … Boyle is incapable of writing a boring sentence" - Financial Times

"Like the brilliant Karl Ove Knausgaard, he can make the cooking of a pork chop so exciting that you find yourself on the edge of your seat … a master" - The Times