Special Topics in Calamity Physics [Hardcover]

'A compulsive page turner . . . dark and playful'

'Donna Tartt goes postmodern ... Sharp, snappy fun for the literary-minded'

'Beneath the foam of this exuberant debut is a dark, strong drink'

‘Witty and exuberant . . . places the author alongside young, eclectic talents like Dave Eggers, Jonathan Safran Foer and Zadie Smith’

‘[It] made me stay up all night reading . . . reminded me of my lost, bad-girl days. I loved this book’

‘Exhilarating synthesis of the classic and the modern, frivolity and fate . . . This skylarking book will leave readers salivating for more'

‘Triumphant. A supremely inspired, dazzling, wildly dynamic,
whirling, glittering, multifaceted marvel, delivered in an irrepressibly
smart and flamboyant new voice’

‘Brilliant . . . guaranteed to join the ranks of 'The Secret
History' and 'Virgin Suicides' as a cult hit and instant classic'

‘Undoubtedly one of the most impressive debut novels I have ever
read’

"Special Topics in Calamity Physics" is a mesmerizing debut. As teenager Blue van Meer tells her story, we are hurled into a dizzying world of murder and butterflies, womanizing and wandering, American McCulture, The Western Canon, political radicalism and juvenile crushisms. Structured around a syllabus for a Great Works of Literature class (with hand-drawn Visual Aids), Blue's wickedly funny yet poignant tale reveals how the imagination finds meaning in the most bewildering times, the ways people of all ages strive for connection, and how the darkest of secrets can set us free.

Marisha Pessl was born in 1977 and lives in New York. This is her first novel.