Artifact

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What to expect

Bloomsbury presents Artifact by Arlene Heyman, read by Stephanie Ellyne.

'A wise, intimate tale that is by turns joyful, sorrowful and explicit' Observer
'The author delves deep into Lottie’s psyche, shying away from nothing, to create a rounded and gripping portrait of a woman on the edge of change’ Daily Mail

Lottie Kristin is independent from the start. Born in the middle of the century to a middle-class family in the very middle of America, Lottie is set apart by her smarts and sensuality. A girl who'd rather carry out dissections on a snowy back porch than join her family for Christmas dinner is a strange and exotic artifact in the town of Sleeping Bay.

But by her early twenties, Lottie finds herself trapped in a marriage gone stale, with a daughter she adores but whose existence jeopardizes her place in the lab and her dream of becoming a scientist. How can a young woman make her way in a world determined to contain her brilliance, her will, and her longing to live?

Bravely and wisely written, Artifact is an intimate and propulsive portrait of a whole woman, a celebration of her refusal to be defined by others’ imaginations, and a meditation on the glorious chaos of biological life.

Critics Review

A wise, intimate tale that is by turns joyful, sorrowful and explicit
Observer
Lottie … encapsulates the dichotomy of her life. She’s a smartly realised character – bright yet naïve, determined and single-minded ... Heyman handles her subject lightly, lacing it with humour
A Life in Books
The author delves deep into Lottie’s psyche, shying away from nothing, to create a rounded and gripping portrait of a woman on the edge of change
Daily Mail
A heroine for our times
Publishers Weekly
Praise for Scary Old Sex: Lusty, tough and life-affirming
Guardian
Hits the reader in the psyche, the gut and the groin with the force of a precision-aimed slingshot … Shocking, mesmerising and truthful
Sunday Telegraph
Both funny and eye-wateringly explicit
Independent
Rueful and funny and observant ... Heyman is an enlightened observer across many aspects of life ... These men and women are busily and blissfully humanizing themselves, the kind of bliss that lifts right off the page
New York Times
A terrific story collection ... Heyman is frank in her descriptions, but never cruel or unfeeling ... a tender, perceptive work
Wall Street Journal
So stylish, earthy and funny
Deborah Moggach
[An] impressive collection ... Heyman takes on the brutal intimacy of death and aging and provides new ways of seeing and experiencing these stages of life
San Francisco Chronicle
Heyman’s frank tales ... feel paradoxically taboo on the page, all the more so for their fierce candour
New Yorker
Sensual and sometimes shocking … Heyman writes with such intimacy and precision that she frequently makes you feel like a trespasser
Daily Mail
Bold, hilarious and intelligent ... Heyman is upfront and her characters are richly internal
Irish Times
Delivers a shock of taboo desire that is lusciously sensual
Independent
Though her characters’ flaws, fears and phobias feel all too real, Heyman’s treatment of them is honest, human and kind
Daily Telegraph

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