The Mars Room

**LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2018** **THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER** 'Kushner is one of our most outstanding modern writers.' STYLIST 'More knowing about prison life [than Orange Is The New Black]... so powerful.' NEW YORK TIMES 'Breathtaking.' VOGUE Romy Hall is at the start of two consecutive life sentences, plus six years, at Stanville Women's Correctional Facility. Outside is the world from which she has been permanently severed: the San Francisco of her youth, changed almost beyond recognition. The Mars Room strip club where she once gave lap dances for a living. And her seven-year-old son, Jackson, now in the care of Romy's estranged mother. Inside is a new reality to adapt to: thousands of women hustling for the bare essentials needed to survive. The relentlessly deadpan absurdities of institutional living, which Kushner details with humour and precision. Daily acts of violence by guards and prisoners alike. Allegiances formed over liquor brewed in socks, and stories shared through sewage pipes. Romy sees the future stretch out ahead of her in a long, unwavering line - until news from outside brings a ferocious urgency to her existence, challenging her to escape her own destiny and culminating in a climax of almost unbearable intensity. Through Romy - and through a cast of astonishing characters populating Mars Room - Rachel Kushner presents not just a bold and unsentimental panorama of life on the margins of contemporary America, but an excoriating attack on the prison-industrial complex.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A fearless and heartbreaking novel about love, friendship and incarceration, from the author of the internationally acclaimed The Flamethrowers . ‘Astounding… this year’s must-read’ ANNE ENRIGHT Romy Hall is starting two consecutive life sentences at Stanville Women’s Correctional Facility. Her crime? The killing of her stalker. Inside awaits a world where women must hustle and fight for the bare essentials. Outside: the San Francisco of her youth. The Mars Room strip club where she was once a dancer. Her seven-year-old son, Jackson. As Romy forms friendships over liquor brewed in socks and stories shared through sewage pipes her future seems to unfurl in one long, unwavering line – until news from beyond the prison bars forces Romy to try and outrun her destiny. * Pre-order Rachel Kushner’s new novel, Creation Lake , now * ‘Breathtaking’ VOGUE ‘One of our most outstanding modern writers’ STYLIST ‘Gritty, empathetic, finely rendered’ MARGARET ATWOOD (on Twitter)

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A fearless and heartbreaking novel about love, friendship and incarceration, from the author of the internationally acclaimed The Flamethrowers . ‘Astounding… this year’s must-read’ ANNE ENRIGHT Romy Hall is starting two consecutive life sentences at Stanville Women’s Correctional Facility. Her crime? The killing of her stalker. Inside awaits a world where women must hustle and fight for the bare essentials. Outside: the San Francisco of her youth. The Mars Room strip club where she was once a dancer. Her seven-year-old son, Jackson. As Romy forms friendships over liquor brewed in socks and stories shared through sewage pipes her future seems to unfurl in one long, unwavering line – until news from beyond the prison bars forces Romy to try and outrun her destiny. * Pre-order Rachel Kushner’s new novel, Creation Lake , now * ‘Breathtaking’ VOGUE ‘One of our most outstanding modern writers’ STYLIST ‘Gritty, empathetic, finely rendered’ MARGARET ATWOOD (on Twitter)