Description

This is a book about yoga. Or at least, it was.

January 2015. High on literary success and familial bliss, Emmanuel Carrere embarks on a rigorous ten-day meditative retreat in rural France in search of clarity and material for his next book, which he thinks will be a subtle, upbeat introduction to yoga.

But his trip is cut short, and he is brought down to earth with a thud when he returns to a Paris in turmoil in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack. From then on, Carrere’s life – along with his novel-in-progress – begins to unravel in ever more unexpected ways.

‘The story of how a life can fray, tighten itself into a noose, unravel… profound and moving’ Geoff Dyer

‘Extraordinarily compelling’ Financial Times

Publisher Review

Completely arresting. He [Carrere] has the talent...of showing us his foibles without demanding that we identify with them. * The Times * An exhilarating new work of autofiction... It's wonderful. It is Carrere's willingness to face his own flaws full in the face that makes his writing so striking, and - dare I say it - relatable. -- Cal Flyn * Literary Review * Yoga is the story of how a life can fray, tighten itself into a noose, unravel and, in the process, be built and braided into lines that make up a profound and moving work of art. -- Geoff Dyer A devastating portrait...[Carrere's] singular, ever-expanding work, in which one pain need never obscure another, in which truths and half-truths are held not in opposition but in delicate, precarious balance, is an answer in itself. -- Sam Byers * Guardian * I loved Emmanuel Carrere's Yoga... A useful manual for this era, where nothing seems connected but everything's related. -- Adam Thirlwell * Times Literary Supplement *Books of the Year* *