Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, a dazzling and deadpan new novel about hope and despair, fear and comfort as it plays out in these times of environmental and political turbulence

Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, a dazzling and deadpan new novel about hope and despair, fear and comfort as it plays out in these times of environmental and political turbulence

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG FICTION READERS AWARD 'Stunning' Maggie O'Farrell 'Gorgeous, funny and deadly serious' Max Porter 'This is so good. We are not ready nor worthy' Ocean Vuong An obligatory note of hope, in a world going to hell. 'What are you afraid of, he asks me and the answer of course is dentistry, humiliation, scarcity, then he says what are your most useful skills? People think I'm funny.' Lizzie Benson, a part-time librarian, is already overwhelmed with the crises of daily life when an old mentor offers her a job answering mail from the listeners of her apocalyptic podcast, Hell and High Water. Soon questions begin pouring in from left-wingers worried about climate change and right-wingers worried about the decline of Western civilization. Entering this polarized world, Lizzie is forced to consider who she is and what she can do to help: as a mother, as a wife, as a sister, and as a citizen of this doomed planet. 'A barometer of how it feels to live now' Sunday Times 'No one writes about the intersection of love and existential despair like Jenny Offill' Jia Tolentino, author of Trick MirrorSHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG FICTION READERS AWARD 'Stunning' Maggie O'Farrell 'Gorgeous, funny and deadly serious' Max Porter 'This is so good. We are not ready nor worthy' Ocean Vuong An obligatory note of hope, in a world going to hell. 'What are you afraid of, he asks me and the answer of course is dentistry, humiliation, scarcity, then he says what are your most useful skills? People think I'm funny.' Lizzie Benson, a part-time librarian, is already overwhelmed with the crises of daily life when an old mentor offers her a job answering mail from the listeners of her apocalyptic podcast, Hell and High Water. Soon questions begin pouring in from left-wingers worried about climate change and right-wingers worried about the decline of Western civilization. Entering this polarized world, Lizzie is forced to consider who she is and what she can do to help: as a mother, as a wife, as a sister, and as a citizen of this doomed planet. 'A barometer of how it feels to live now' Sunday Times 'No one writes about the intersection of love and existential despair like Jenny Offill' Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror

"Novelists don't need to dream the end of the world anymore - they need to wake up to it. Jenny Offill is one of today's few essential voices, because she writes about essential things, in sentences so clipped and glittering it's as if they are all cut from one diamond" - The Privileges

"With exceptional originality, intensity and sweetness [...] Dept. of Speculation is a shattered novel that stabs and sparkles at the same time. . . give in and read it" - Guardian

"A fragmented wander through an anxious, funny mind, with odd connections arriving in overheard anecdotes. It's great" - Observer

"[Offill is] such a fine, funny writer, her observations shot through with luminous intelligence and emotional insight. Her last novel, Dept. of Speculation is also superb" - Observer

"Moving, heartbreaking and frequently funny" - New European

"Elegant, entertaining... zesty... told in short, shimmery snippets...delightfully silly; jam-packed with wise and wistful sentences that you will want to underline and quote to all your friends" - Psychologies

"Wryly funny" - Daily Mail

"Novelists don't need to dream the end of the world anymore - they need to wake up to it. Jenny Offill is one of today's few essential voices, because she writes about essential things, in sentences so clipped and glittering it's as if they are all cut from one diamond" - The Privileges

"With exceptional originality, intensity and sweetness [...] Dept. of Speculation is a shattered novel that stabs and sparkles at the same time. . . give in and read it" - Guardian

"A fragmented wander through an anxious, funny mind, with odd connections arriving in overheard anecdotes. It's great" - Observer

"[Offill is] such a fine, funny writer, her observations shot through with luminous intelligence and emotional insight. Her last novel, Dept. of Speculation is also superb" - Observer

"Moving, heartbreaking and frequently funny" - New European

"Elegant, entertaining... zesty... told in short, shimmery snippets...delightfully silly; jam-packed with wise and wistful sentences that you will want to underline and quote to all your friends" - Psychologies

"Wryly funny" - Daily Mail