Publisher Description

'Heady and rambunctious … Wake up, this book says: in its plot lines, in its humour, in its philosophical underpinnings and political agenda. I'll pay it the highest compliment it knows – this book is a wild thing.' New York Times Book Review
Interlaken, Berne, 21st century. Several things happen after the car hits the rock. Tiff ceases to be pregnant. Stephen captures, like, the most wonderful bird – fleet, stealthy, and beautiful – a real "lifer". And the wallcreeper, the wallcreeper says "twee".

The Wallcreeper is nothing more than a portrait of marriage, complete with all its requisite highs and lows: drugs, dubstep, small chores, anal sex, eco-terrorism, birding, breeding and feeding.

Notes

Now in paperback, this is the hugely acclaimed debut novel from the American author of Mislaid. Set in Germany, it's a portrait of a marriage in the 21st century. 'Zink is hilarious and cracklingly smart,' Jonathan Franzen

Author Biography

Nell Zink was born in 1964 in southern California and grew up in rural Virginia. She attended Stuart Hall School and the College of William and Mary, where she majored in philosophy. Rather late in life she got a doctorate in Media Studies from the University of Tübingen, Germany. She works as a translator for Zeitenspiegel Reportagen and lives in Bad Belzig, south of Berlin.

Review

'A talent that is as rare and strange as a kestrel on Oxford Street . . . A slim, strange masterpiece, and one of those alluring, elliptical, exceptional novels that I will want to keep rereading for the rest of my life' The Sunday Times'The Wallcreeper is the best book of 2014 … Every page is an angular masterpiece' Dazed'A dazzling debut … Zink's novels are two of the most audacious and exciting I've read in a long time' Independent'The Wallcreeper marks Zink as an extraordinary talent' Daily Telegraph'Prodigiously intelligent and odd … Zink's work is not tender, elegant, disciplined or classically proportioned, but it is clever, fierce, striking and original. So much so that it makes tender, elegant and so on look quite dull' Guardian'An instrument of delight, an offering of kinship. Like its namesake, The Wallcreeper is fleet, stealthy and beautiful. It's a lifer indeed' New York Times'The most exciting debut novel I've read recently … a Zink's mordantly hilarious story of sex, drugs, and birdwatching' Guardian'Zink is hilarious and cracklingly smart, and she takes the kind of risks that a novelist is supposed to take.' Jonathan Franzen'Heady and rambunctious … Wake up, this book says: in its plot lines, in its humour, in its philosophical underpinnings and political agenda. I'll pay it the highest compliment it knows – this book is a wild thing' New York Times Book Review'Strange, hilarious, and utterly captivating' Harpers Bazaar'Straying asymmetrically through its story of a partnership falling apart, in an uncontrollable environment, with a feeling that there's a heavy dose of autobiography in it … Franzen might be right on this writer: Zink has written two books both worth talking about in the best salons in town, which will unsettle them in turn' Independent on Sunday'The Wallcreeper's strange, nebulous weightiness, both personal and political, make her first novel a work of bizarre brilliance' New Statesman

Long Description

'Heady and rambunctious ... Wake up, this book says: in its plot lines, in its humour, in its philosophical underpinnings and political agenda. I'll pay it the highest compliment it knows - this book is a wild thing.' New York Times Book Review Interlaken, Berne, 21st century. Several things happen after the car hits the rock. Tiff ceases to be pregnant. Stephen captures, like, the most wonderful bird - fleet, stealthy, and beautiful - a real "lifer". And the wallcreeper, the wallcreeper says "twee". The Wallcreeper is nothing more than a portrait of marriage, complete with all its requisite highs and lows: drugs, dubstep, small chores, anal sex, eco-terrorism, birding, breeding and feeding.

Review Quote

'A talent that is as rare and strange as a kestrel on Oxford Street . . . A slim, strange masterpiece, and one of those alluring, elliptical, exceptional novels that I will want to keep rereading for the rest of my life' The Sunday Times 'The Wallcreeper is the best book of 2014 ... Every page is an angular masterpiece' Dazed 'A dazzling debut ... Zink's novels are two of the most audacious and exciting I've read in a long time' Independent 'The Wallcreeper marks Zink as an extraordinary talent' Daily Telegraph 'Prodigiously intelligent and odd ... Zink's work is not tender, elegant, disciplined or classically proportioned, but it is clever, fierce, striking and original. So much so that it makes tender, elegant and so on look quite dull' Guardian 'An instrument of delight, an offering of kinship. Like its namesake, The Wallcreeper is fleet, stealthy and beautiful. It's a lifer indeed' New York Times 'The most exciting debut novel I've read recently ... a Zink's mordantly hilarious story of sex, drugs, and birdwatching' Guardian 'Zink is hilarious and cracklingly smart, and she takes the kind of risks that a novelist is supposed to take.' Jonathan Franzen 'Heady and rambunctious ... Wake up, this book says: in its plot lines, in its humour, in its philosophical underpinnings and political agenda. I'll pay it the highest compliment it knows - this book is a wild thing' New York Times Book Review 'Strange, hilarious, and utterly captivating' Harpers Bazaar 'Straying asymmetrically through its story of a partnership falling apart, in an uncontrollable environment, with a feeling that there's a heavy dose of autobiography in it ... Franzen might be right on this writer: Zink has written two books both worth talking about in the best salons in town, which will unsettle them in turn' Independent on Sunday 'The Wallcreeper's strange, nebulous weightiness, both personal and political, make her first novel a work of bizarre brilliance' New Statesman

Feature

* Published last year in the US by The Dorothy Project, a small press, THE WALLCREEPER was hailed unanimously as a big literary event. It was picked as a NY Times 100 Notable Books of 2014, Electric Literature's Best 25 Novels of 2014, Flavorwire's Best Novels of 2014, and Dazed's Best Book of the Year. * Nell Zink is being interviewed and featured everywhere - hype is growing in the UK now with a whole-page profile in the Guardian. * 4th Estate will publish alongside MISLAID with a campaign that clearly marks out the arrival of a huge new talent. This is a debut to match THE SECRET HISTORY (700,000 TCM), THE CORRECTIONS (230,000 TCM), or WHITE TEETH. Competition: Purity; Eileen; The Vegetarian; Attrib.. Nell Zink;Eimear McBride; Jonathan Franzen; Ottessa Moshfegh; Han Kang; Eley Williams;

Description for Sales People

'Heady and rambunctious ... Wake up, this book says: in its plot lines, in its humour, in its philosophical underpinnings and political agenda. I'll pay it the highest compliment it knows - this book is a wild thing.' New York Times Book Review Interlaken, Berne, 21st century. Several things happen after the car hits the rock. Tiff ceases to be pregnant. Stephen captures, like, the most wonderful bird - fleet, stealthy, and beautiful - a real "lifer". And the wallcreeper, the wallcreeper says "twee". The Wallcreeper is nothing more than a portrait of marriage, complete with all its requisite highs and lows: drugs, dubstep, small chores, anal sex, eco-terrorism, birding, breeding and feeding. Gold title * Published last year in the US by The Dorothy Project, a small press, THE WALLCREEPER was hailed unanimously as a big literary event. It was picked as a NY Times 100 Notable Books of 2014, Electric Literature's Best 25 Novels of 2014, Flavorwire's Best Novels of 2014, and Dazed's Best Book of the Year. * Nell Zink is being interviewed and featured everywhere - hype is growing in the UK now with a whole-page profile in the Guardian. * 4th Estate will publish alongside MISLAID with a campaign that clearly marks out the arrival of a huge new talent. This is a debut to match THE SECRET HISTORY (700,000 TCM), THE CORRECTIONS (230,000 TCM), or WHITE TEETH.

Details