Publisher Description

This impressive debut novel, longlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize, takes its premise and inspiration from ten of the best-known thought experiments in philosophy—the what-ifs of philosophical investigation—and uses them to talk about love in a wholly unique way.

Married couple Rachel and Eliza are considering having a child. Rachel wants one desperately, and Eliza thinks she does, too, but she can't quite seem to wrap her head around the idea. When Rachel wakes up screaming one night and tells Eliza that an ant has crawled into her eye and is stuck there, Eliza initially sees it as a cry for attention. But Rachel is adamant. She knows it sounds crazy—but she also knows it's true. As a scientist, Eliza is skeptical. Suddenly their entire relationship is called into question.

What follows is a uniquely imaginative sequence of ten interconnecting episodes—each from a different character's perspective—inspired by some of the best-known thought experiments in philosophy. Together they form a sparkling philosophical tale of love lost and found across the universe.

Author Biography

SOPHIE WARD is an actor and a writer. She has published articles in The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The Spectator, Diva, and Red magazine, and her short stories have been published in the anthologies Finding A Voice, Book of Numbers, The Spiral Path, and The Gold Room. Her book A Marriage Proposal: The Importance of Equal Marriage and What it Means for All of Us was published as a Guardian short eBook in 2014. In 2018, Sophie won the Pindrop short story award for "Sunbed." She has a degree in philosophy and literature and a PhD from Goldsmiths, University of London, on the use of narrative in philosophy of mind.

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Review

LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE MCKITTERICK PRIZE
LONGLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOT PRIZE
LONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI BOOK PRIZE

"Ingenious." —The Guardian

"Intriguing. . . . The author's grasp on the ideas at play effectively and poignantly connects readers with the characters' grief." —Publishers Weekly

"A conspicuously erudite, skilfully observed debut novel." —Telegraph (UK)

"Ward has achieved something quite extraordinary: a super-smart, metaphysical romp that's also warm, wistful and heartfelt." —Daily Telegraph (UK)

"The sheer literary ambition on show is impressive, with Ward producing a highly original first novel that also echoes European experimentalists such as Kundera and Krasznahorkai." —Spectator (UK)

"An imaginative and original synthesis of fiction and philosophy" —Irish Times

"Ward is as skilful an observer as she is an abstract thinker, and so her characters, while fulfilling their roles as illustrators of theories, also burst with life." —Sunday Telegraph (UK)

"A refershing puzzle to unpick." —Diva Magazine (UK)

"It's rare for me to fall for a novel that could be called 'experimental' but this genuinely blew my mind." —The Literary Sofa

"A towering literary achievement." —Ruth Hogan, author of The Keeper of Lost Things

"Philosophy meets fiction in this beguiling and intriguing novel of minds, hearts, other worlds, love, death and everything in between. It's a book that dances and dazzles with ideas and left me thinking long after I finished it." —Sophie Kinsella

Review Quote

LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE MCKITTERICK PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOT PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI BOOK PRIZE "Ingenious." -- The Guardian "Intriguing. . . . The author's grasp on the ideas at play effectively and poignantly connects readers with the characters' grief." -- Publishers Weekly "A conspicuously erudite, skilfully observed debut novel." -- Telegraph (UK) "Ward has achieved something quite extraordinary: a super-smart, metaphysical romp that's also warm, wistful and heartfelt." --Daily Telegraph (UK) "The sheer literary ambition on show is impressive, with Ward producing a highly original first novel that also echoes European experimentalists such as Kundera and Krasznahorkai." --Spectator (UK) "An imaginative and original synthesis of fiction and philosophy" --Irish Times "Ward is as skilful an observer as she is an abstract thinker, and so her characters, while fulfilling their roles as illustrators of theories, also burst with life." --Sunday Telegraph (UK) "A refershing puzzle to unpick." --Diva Magazine (UK) "It's rare for me to fall for a novel that could be called 'experimental' but this genuinely blew my mind." -- The Literary Sofa "A towering literary achievement." -- Ruth Hogan, author of The Keeper of Lost Things "Philosophy meets fiction in this beguiling and intriguing novel of minds, hearts, other worlds, love, death and everything in between. It's a book that dances and dazzles with ideas and left me thinking long after I finished it." -- Sophie Kinsella

Excerpt from Book

Rachel picked up the magazine that Eliza had left in the kitchen. The cover was a drawing of a tree with the roots embedded in a man''s head and above him a blowsy crown of leafed branches arched towards the sun. It wasn''t a typical image for Eliza''s reading matter. Rachel turned the page. ''Thought experiments are devices of the imagination used to investigate the nature of things.'' That''s a lot, thought Rachel. But she liked the sound of it. It tickled her to think of stories being used by scientists. I could be a thought experiment, something Eliza has dreamed up to challenge her hardened reasoning. ''If I were a thought experiment,'' Rachel asked Eliza as they got into bed that night, ''What one would I be?'' ''I''m not sure you can be a thought experiment,'' Eliza said. ''They are supposed to help you think about a problem.'' ''If you can imagine it, then it is possible.'' ''That is one theory.'' ''So,'' Rachel pushed away the book Eliza had picked up and blinked at her girlfriend. ''Imagine me.'' Eliza smiled and shook her head. ''This is what happens when the fanciful encounter the factual.'' ''I''m not sure which is which here. Quit stalling.'' Rachel prodded Eliza''s armpit. ''Fine! You want to be a thought experiment? You can be a zombie! No, no, I''ve got it. You would be, yes, Hume''s Missing Shade of Blue. The colour he has never seen but can still visualise. Happy?'' Hume''s Missing Shade of Blue, thought Rachel as she laid her head on the pillow. Yes. I can be that. ''Tell me some more.'' 1. An Ant Pascal''s Wager The seventeenth-century mathematician Blaise Pascal argued that since God either does or does not exist and we must all make a decision about the existence of God, we are all bound to take part in the wager. You can commit your life to God because you stand to gain infinite happiness (in the infinite hereafter) with what amounts to a finite stake (your mortal life). If you do not commit your life to God you may be staking your finite life for infinite unhappiness in Hell. By this logic, the infinite amount of possible gain far outweighs the finite loss. But there is here an infinity of an infinitely happy life to gain, a chance of gain against a finite number of chances of loss, and what you stake is finite. Blaise Pascal Pens

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