2025 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction (finalist)
From the bestselling and award-winning author of the Patrick Melrose novels, a hilarious and moving story about a group of wildly different characters whose fates are improbably yet inextricably linked—a novel about extinction and survival, inheritance and loss, written with St. Aubyn’s trademark wit and inimitable style
It’s the summer, and Sebastian is in treatment following a breakdown that has left him grappling with his fragile grip on reality and his persistent hunger to connect with the biological mother who abandoned him as a child. His therapist, Martin, is facing challenges of his own, including his adopted daughter’s tenuous relationship with her own biological mother—a predicament that makes Sebastian’s struggle feel uncannily proximate to her own. Olivia is producing a radio series on catastrophic natural disasters, which itself seems to be running parallel to the events unfolding in her personal life, as her best friend, Lucy, faces a grave diagnosis, and her husband, Francis, pursues his mission of re-wilding the world. Over the course of the next year their fates collide in outrageous and poignant ways, as each of their destinies is revealed in a marvelous new light.
With characteristic brilliance and humor, Parallel Lines investigates themes of dualism, determinism, connection, and love. St. Aubyn captures the life of the spirit as vibrantly as the life of the mind, in a novel that wrestles with moral and psychic anguish and the cascading consequences of our choices at every stage of life. A thrilling, wholly captivating novel from one of the most gifted writers at work today.
Genre: Literary Fiction
It’s the summer, and Sebastian is in treatment following a breakdown that has left him grappling with his fragile grip on reality and his persistent hunger to connect with the biological mother who abandoned him as a child. His therapist, Martin, is facing challenges of his own, including his adopted daughter’s tenuous relationship with her own biological mother—a predicament that makes Sebastian’s struggle feel uncannily proximate to her own. Olivia is producing a radio series on catastrophic natural disasters, which itself seems to be running parallel to the events unfolding in her personal life, as her best friend, Lucy, faces a grave diagnosis, and her husband, Francis, pursues his mission of re-wilding the world. Over the course of the next year their fates collide in outrageous and poignant ways, as each of their destinies is revealed in a marvelous new light.
With characteristic brilliance and humor, Parallel Lines investigates themes of dualism, determinism, connection, and love. St. Aubyn captures the life of the spirit as vibrantly as the life of the mind, in a novel that wrestles with moral and psychic anguish and the cascading consequences of our choices at every stage of life. A thrilling, wholly captivating novel from one of the most gifted writers at work today.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Why did it take me so long to fall in love with the brilliant novels of Edward St Aubyn?" - Bret Easton Ellis
"Witty, rich and provocative. One ravishingly elegant sentence follows another as the stories of these fascinating characters intertwine en route to a poignant and uplifting conclusion. Masterful." - Ben Hinshaw
"Parallel Lines depicts characters whose hold on reality is fragile or fraught, but this novel's hold on reality is sure and convincing and passionate... [It is] dressmaker-deft on adult sibling relationships, on patient-therapist challenges, on the surprises of middle-age, on the pressure to accept our circumstances." - Caoilinn Hughes
"Witty, rich and provocative. One ravishingly elegant sentence follows another as the stories of these fascinating characters intertwine en route to a poignant and uplifting conclusion. Masterful." - Ben Hinshaw
"Parallel Lines depicts characters whose hold on reality is fragile or fraught, but this novel's hold on reality is sure and convincing and passionate... [It is] dressmaker-deft on adult sibling relationships, on patient-therapist challenges, on the surprises of middle-age, on the pressure to accept our circumstances." - Caoilinn Hughes
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