In the Lives of Puppets

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What to expect

From New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, In the Lives of Puppets is a queer retelling of the Pinocchio tale, inviting you deep into the heart of a peculiar forest and on the extraordinary journey of a family assembled from spare parts.

‘A deeply stirring journey through a world of extraordinary robots’ – Chuck Tingle, Hugo-shortlisted author of Camp Damascus

*A New York Times, Sunday Times and Indie Bestseller*
*Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Science Fiction*

In a small home, built into the branches of a tree, live a human named Victor and three robots. These are a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, a small vacuum desperate for love and attention, and a fatherly inventor-android named Giovanni Lawson. Together they’re a family, hidden and safe.

Then Vic salvages an unfamiliar android labelled ‘HAP’. He learns that Hap and Gio share a dark past, where they hunted humans. And Hap unwittingly gives away Gio’s location. Before they know it, robots from Gio’s former life arrive – to capture and return the android to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams.

The rest of the unconventional family must travel across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommissioning. Or worse, reprogramming. Along the way, Vic must decide if he can handle his feelings for Hap – even if they come with strings attached.

Inspired by Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio, In the Lives of Puppets is a masterful standalone fantasy adventure from the author who brought you The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door.

In the Lives of Puppets was a No. 1 Sunday Times HB Bestseller w/c 24/04/2023.

Critics Review

  • Glorious, a thoroughly entertaining and deeply stirring journey through a world of extraordinary robots. The characters here are so vibrant, and the story proves that love stretches well beyond the world of humans

    Chuck Tingle, author of Camp Damascus

  • TJ Klune has created an enchanting tale of Pinocchio in the end times, offering up hard truths alongside humor, kindness, love and, most important, hope

    P. Djèlí Clark, author of A Master of Djinn

  • I dare say I am yet to read more humane robots than I’ve encountered in In the Lives of Puppets . . . One can’t help but fall in love with this book

    T. L. Huchu, author of The Library of the Dead

  • Readers who loved Klune’s previous works will find plenty of the author’s trademark charm, heart, and bittersweet

    Library Journal, Starred Review

  • A wholly charming post-robot-apocalypse retelling of Pinocchio. Speculative fiction readers will fall in love with this whimsical, bittersweet fable

    Shelf Awareness, Starred Review

  • I loved it. It is like being wrapped up in a big gay blanket. Simply perfect

    V. E. Schwab, author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue on The House in the Cerulean Sea

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