Description

From the prize-winning author of Supper Club comes a wickedly funny and slyly poignant new satire on modern life – for fans of My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Convenience Store Woman, and J. G. Ballard’s High Rise

‘This book is a serious vibe’ Cosmopolitan

‘Lara Williams is the queen of smart modern satire. I could read her all day’ Emma Jane Unsworth

Meet Ingrid. She works on a gargantuan luxury cruise liner, where she spends her days reorganizing the merchandise and waiting for long-term guests to drop dead in the changing rooms. On her days off, she disembarks from the ship and gets blind drunk on whatever the local alcohol is. It’s not a bad life. And it distracts her from thinking about the other life she left behind five years ago.

Until one day she is selected for the employee mentorship scheme – an initiative run by the ship’s mysterious captain and self-anointed lifestyle guru, Keith, who pushes Ingrid further than she thought possible. But sooner or later, she will have to ask herself: how far is too far?

Utterly original, mischievous and thought-provoking, The Odyssey is a merciless takedown of consumer capitalism and our anxious, ill-fated quests for something to believe in. And as its title suggests, it is a voyage that will eventually lead its unlikely heroine all the way home. Though she’d do almost anything to avoid getting there…

Publisher Review

Slyly poignant and wickedly funny... A serious vibe * Cosmopolitan * Readers who enjoy Melissa Broder and Ottessa Moshfegh will appreciate this surreal trip through a troubled woman's psyche * Booklist * Lara Williams is the queen of smart modern satire. I could read her all day -- Emma Jane Unsworth, author of 'Adults' Williams succeeds in satirising the seemingly unmockable: the overwhelming absurdities of modern life... * Literary Review * I have never read anything like this... Deliciously unpredictable -- Mateo Askaripour, author of 'Black Buck' Equal parts satire and elegy, coming from the very edge of the abyss... Unsettling, risk-taking, profoundly moving - I loved it -- Livia Franchini, author of 'Shelf Life' Astonishing, subversive and darkly funny - another dazzler of a novel from Lara Williams -- Zeba Talkhani, author of 'My Past is a Foreign Country' Mischievous and thought-provoking * Sheerluxe * Slyly humorous, sharp, courageous and at times devastating... The Odyssey is a wildly original satire -- Frances Cha, author of 'If I Had Your Face'