Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies

Winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize Shortlisted: Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year – Goldsmiths Prize – Betty Trask Prize Longlisted: Booker Prize – Dylan Thomas Prize Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies is a story of coming-of-age at the end of a life. Utterly heart-breaking yet darkly funny, Maddie Mortimer’s debut is a symphonic journey through one woman’s body: a celebration of desire, forgiveness, and the darkness within us all. ‘Original, memorable, shimmering’ – Sarah Moss, author of Ghost Wall Lia has only one child, Iris; her magical, awkward, endlessly creative daughter who has just entered the battleground of her teenage years. Lia and Iris have always been close, but there is a war playing out inside Lia’s body, too, and everything is about to change. As she confronts what might be the end, memories of her own childhood and a passionate love affair come rushing into her present, unearthing buried secrets and her family’s deepest fears. But Lia still has hope . . . for more time, for more love, for more Iris. The Sunday Times Book of the Year 'Restlessly inventive . . . delicate and persuasive' – The Guardian ‘Extraordinary, kaleidoscopic’ – Daisy Johnson, author of Everything, Under

Winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize Shortlisted: Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year – Goldsmiths Prize – Betty Trask Prize Longlisted: Booker Prize – Dylan Thomas Prize Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies is a story of coming-of-age at the end of a life. Utterly heart-breaking yet darkly funny, Maddie Mortimer’s debut is a symphonic journey through one woman’s body: a celebration of desire, forgiveness, and the darkness within us all. ‘Original, memorable, shimmering’ – Sarah Moss, author of Ghost Wall Lia has only one child, Iris; her magical, awkward, endlessly creative daughter who has just entered the battleground of her teenage years. Lia and Iris have always been close, but there is a war playing out inside Lia’s body, too, and everything is about to change. As she confronts what might be the end, memories of her own childhood and a passionate love affair come rushing into her present, unearthing buried secrets and her family’s deepest fears. But Lia still has hope . . . for more time, for more love, for more Iris. The Sunday Times Book of the Year 'Restlessly inventive . . . delicate and persuasive' – The Guardian ‘Extraordinary, kaleidoscopic’ – Daisy Johnson, author of Everything, Under

Longlisted for the Booker Prize Winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize 'Original, memorable, shimmering' - Sarah Moss 'Restlessly inventive . . . delicate and persuasive' - The Guardian Something gleeful and malevolent is moving in Lia’s body, learning her life from the inside out. A shape-shifter. A disaster tourist. It’s travelling down the banks of her canals. It’s spreading. When a sudden diagnosis upends Lia’s world, the boundaries between her past and her present begin to collapse. Deeply buried secrets stir awake. As the voice prowling in Lia takes hold of her story, and the landscape around becomes indistinguishable from the one within, Lia and her family are faced with some of the hardest questions of all: how can we move on from the events that have shaped us, when our bodies harbour everything? And what does it mean to die with grace, when you’re simply not ready to let go? Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies is a story of coming-of-age at the end of a life. Utterly heart-breaking yet darkly funny, Maddie Mortimer’s astonishing debut is a symphonic journey through one woman’s body: a wild and lyrical celebration of desire, forgiveness, and the darkness within us all.

Longlisted for the Booker Prize Winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize 'Original, memorable, shimmering' - Sarah Moss 'Restlessly inventive . . . delicate and persuasive' - The Guardian Something gleeful and malevolent is moving in Lia’s body, learning her life from the inside out. A shape-shifter. A disaster tourist. It’s travelling down the banks of her canals. It’s spreading. When a sudden diagnosis upends Lia’s world, the boundaries between her past and her present begin to collapse. Deeply buried secrets stir awake. As the voice prowling in Lia takes hold of her story, and the landscape around becomes indistinguishable from the one within, Lia and her family are faced with some of the hardest questions of all: how can we move on from the events that have shaped us, when our bodies harbour everything? And what does it mean to die with grace, when you’re simply not ready to let go? Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies is a story of coming-of-age at the end of a life. Utterly heart-breaking yet darkly funny, Maddie Mortimer’s astonishing debut is a symphonic journey through one woman’s body: a wild and lyrical celebration of desire, forgiveness, and the darkness within us all.