Description

‘I absolutely loved it’ – Zadie Smith, author of White Teeth
‘Fast, harsh, smart and fun’ – Guardian

Electrifying and darkly funny, Mariel Franklin’s debut Bonding is a uniquely modern story of sex, tech and freedom in the messy tangle of our digital age.

Mary is single, jobless, and on her way to Ibiza.

There, at a party, she meets Tom, a brilliant chemist on the verge of launching a new drug that claims to cure the anxieties of modern life.

Back in London after a heady trip, Mary begins going out with Tom and working for her sort-of-ex Lara, who has created innovative dating app designed to revolutionize the industry. As tech and pharma collide, she is forced to question what love and success mean in a world that is hurtling out of control.

‘Genuinely thrilling deep-dive into the dystopian future in which we now live’ – Saba Sams, author of Gunk

Publisher Review

I absolutely loved it. Anyone interested in the relationship between tech, our bodies and our minds should bump it to the top of their queue immediately — Zadie Smith, author of The Fraud As relishable as it is terrifying, Bonding is an audacious, hot, deeply uncomfortable and genuinely thrilling deep-dive into the dystopian future in which we now live — Saba Sams, author of Send Nudes So obviously impressive . . . With its dissident intelligence and its comprehensive vision of a devastated social sphere, Mariel Franklin’s Bonding is the work of an author whose importance already feels assured * The Observer * This smart, disturbing debut reads like a nineteenth-century novel of manners for the digital age . . . Franklin has written one of the most stimulating novels I have read * The Times * With dazzling imagination, Franklin fashions cutting-edge concepts, then uses them to pry open the human heart and interrogate the eternal questions therein. Chilling but warm, eagle-eyed yet sweeping, Bonding is a fascinating, ambitious tale for our modern age. — Andrew Lipstein, author of The Vegan Fast, harsh, smart and fun * Guardian * Somewhere between Big Pharma-topia and dating app start-ups is Bonding’s biggest surprise – and it’s heart-shaped. Part love story, part love-mare, Bonding asks big, bold questions about the future of human relations and relationships — Sarah May, author of Becky Franklin’s agile, thought-provoking tale throbs with ideas, fears and cautions. * Financial Times * An addictive and unsparing novel. Mariel Franklin contends with some of our most urgent questions . . . a gorgeous, clear-eyed, and terrifying debut, Bonding is a love story for our times. — Claudia Day, author of Daughter Franklin arranges her vision of the contemporary moment in a way that makes the reader see our predicament anew. She is a seer and this novel of ideas is funny, sexy and surprising. — Luke Brown, author Theft Franklin is a fearless writer. In Bonding, she has written a novel that is somehow both timely and timeless. — Keiran Goddard, author of I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning