Today’s fun fact: people still read books in Norway! Do you know how I know this? Because lifelong Norwegian (and globally-acclaimed singer-songwriter) Jenny Hval has announced a new novel! It’s called Paradise Rot and it’s hitting store shelves October 2 via the good graces of Penguin Random House and the heartwarming radicals over at Verso. Congrats on that multi-hyphenate status, Jenny!
Billed as “a lyrical and uncompromising debut novel,” the book “presents a heady and hyper-sensual portrayal of sexual awakening and queer desire,” which is easily my favorite genre of prose. SPOILER WARNING!! Here’s a plot synopsis to tide you over until you have to brace yourself against that biting autumn breeze:
Jo is in a strange new country for university, and having a more peculiar time than most. A house with no walls, a roommate with no boundaries, and a home that seems ever more alive. Jo’s sensitivity, and all her senses, become increasingly heightened and fraught, as the lines between bodies and plants, and dreaming and wakefulness, blur and mesh.
END SPOILERS!!
I know, I know; you’re just dying to know the page length, ISBN, and physical dimensions of the paperback. Well, I have good news and better news: the good news is that you can find all that information over at the Penguin Random House site; the better news is that you can pre-order Paradise Rot over there, too! Finally, Paradise Lost gets the gritty modern reboot we all know it deserves!
More about: Jenny Hval
