2014 Kirkus Prize for Fiction
2014 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction (nominee)
The New York Times Top Ten Bestseller.
From the author of Writers & Lovers, Euphoria is Lily King’s gripping novel inspired by the true story of a woman who changed the way we understand our world.
‘Pretty much perfect . . . about a Margaret Mead-like character in New Guinea in the 30s, and it's so smart and rich and alive.’ – Curtis Sittenfeld, author of Romantic Comedy
In 1933 three young, gifted anthropologists are thrown together in the jungle of New Guinea. They are Nell Stone, fascinating, magnetic and famous for her controversial work. Her intelligent but aggressive husband Fen, who is uneasy with her success. And Andrew Bankson, who stumbles into the lives of this strange couple and becomes totally enthralled by Nell.
The trio start to produce their best ever work, but within this passionate love triangle a firestorm of love and jealousy begins to burn out of control, threatening their bonds, their careers and, ultimately, their lives . . .
‘Lily King is one of our great literary treasures’ – Madeline Miller, author of The Song of Achilles
‘Dazzling’ – Emma Donoghue, author of Room
‘Taut, witty, fiercely intelligent . . . a love triangle in extremis’ – The New York Times
Genre: Literary Fiction
From the author of Writers & Lovers, Euphoria is Lily King’s gripping novel inspired by the true story of a woman who changed the way we understand our world.
‘Pretty much perfect . . . about a Margaret Mead-like character in New Guinea in the 30s, and it's so smart and rich and alive.’ – Curtis Sittenfeld, author of Romantic Comedy
In 1933 three young, gifted anthropologists are thrown together in the jungle of New Guinea. They are Nell Stone, fascinating, magnetic and famous for her controversial work. Her intelligent but aggressive husband Fen, who is uneasy with her success. And Andrew Bankson, who stumbles into the lives of this strange couple and becomes totally enthralled by Nell.
The trio start to produce their best ever work, but within this passionate love triangle a firestorm of love and jealousy begins to burn out of control, threatening their bonds, their careers and, ultimately, their lives . . .
‘Lily King is one of our great literary treasures’ – Madeline Miller, author of The Song of Achilles
‘Dazzling’ – Emma Donoghue, author of Room
‘Taut, witty, fiercely intelligent . . . a love triangle in extremis’ – The New York Times
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Fresh, brilliantly structured, and fully imagined, this novel radically transforms a story we might have known, as outsiders - but now experience, through Lily King's great gifts, as if we'd lived it." - Andrea Barrett
"Writers are childlike in their enthusiasm about other writers' good work. They're thinking: How'd they ever think of that? That's amazing/beautifully written/true! Imagine all the effort that went into pulling this off. Could I do something this original/surprising/moving? I'm always happy to read Lily King, and I particularly enjoyed reading Euphoria." - Ann Beattie
"There are some novels that take you by the hand with their lovely prose alone; there are those that pull you in with sensual renderings of time and place and a compelling story; and there are still others that seduce you solely with their subject matter. But it is a rare novel indeed that does all of the above at once and with complete artistic mastery. Yet this is precisely what Lily King has done in her stunningly passionate and gorgeously written Euphoria. It is simply one of the finest novels I've read in years, and it puts Lily King firmly in the top rank of our most accomplished novelists." - Andre Dubus III
"Lily King delves into the intellectual flights and passions of three anthropologists - as complex, rivalrous, and brutal as any of the cultures they study. Euphoria is a brilliantly written book." - Alice Greenway
"With Euphoria, Lily King gives us a searing and absolutely mesmerizing glimpse into 1930's New Guinea, a world as savage and fascinating as Conrad's Heart of Darkness, where obsessions rise to a feverish pitch, and three dangerously entangled anthropologists will never be the same again. Jaw-droppingly, heart-stoppingly beautiful. I loved this book." - Paula McLain
"I have come to expect Lily King's nuanced explorations of the human heart, but in this novel she pulled me in to the exotic world of a woman anthropologist working with undiscovered tribes in 1930s New Guinea and I was totally captivated. Euphoria is a great book! So great, that I stayed up late to finish it." - Karl Marlantes
"Adventure and romance, danger and knowledge, desire and desolation: these are a few of my favorite things. And, exquisitely braided, they form the core of Euphoria. Set in the 1930s, in a New Guinea that Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson would recognize with delight and trepidation, this passionate and thrilling new novel reminds us that all our mores are fictions, that culture itself is only a story we tell ourselves. And what a harrowing tale Lily King weaves from these threads. I'm left breathless, excited, ready to wander and explore, a little afraid, enamored, enlightened." - Bill Roorbach
"Writers are childlike in their enthusiasm about other writers' good work. They're thinking: How'd they ever think of that? That's amazing/beautifully written/true! Imagine all the effort that went into pulling this off. Could I do something this original/surprising/moving? I'm always happy to read Lily King, and I particularly enjoyed reading Euphoria." - Ann Beattie
"There are some novels that take you by the hand with their lovely prose alone; there are those that pull you in with sensual renderings of time and place and a compelling story; and there are still others that seduce you solely with their subject matter. But it is a rare novel indeed that does all of the above at once and with complete artistic mastery. Yet this is precisely what Lily King has done in her stunningly passionate and gorgeously written Euphoria. It is simply one of the finest novels I've read in years, and it puts Lily King firmly in the top rank of our most accomplished novelists." - Andre Dubus III
"Lily King delves into the intellectual flights and passions of three anthropologists - as complex, rivalrous, and brutal as any of the cultures they study. Euphoria is a brilliantly written book." - Alice Greenway
"With Euphoria, Lily King gives us a searing and absolutely mesmerizing glimpse into 1930's New Guinea, a world as savage and fascinating as Conrad's Heart of Darkness, where obsessions rise to a feverish pitch, and three dangerously entangled anthropologists will never be the same again. Jaw-droppingly, heart-stoppingly beautiful. I loved this book." - Paula McLain
"I have come to expect Lily King's nuanced explorations of the human heart, but in this novel she pulled me in to the exotic world of a woman anthropologist working with undiscovered tribes in 1930s New Guinea and I was totally captivated. Euphoria is a great book! So great, that I stayed up late to finish it." - Karl Marlantes
"Adventure and romance, danger and knowledge, desire and desolation: these are a few of my favorite things. And, exquisitely braided, they form the core of Euphoria. Set in the 1930s, in a New Guinea that Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson would recognize with delight and trepidation, this passionate and thrilling new novel reminds us that all our mores are fictions, that culture itself is only a story we tell ourselves. And what a harrowing tale Lily King weaves from these threads. I'm left breathless, excited, ready to wander and explore, a little afraid, enamored, enlightened." - Bill Roorbach
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