Build Your House Around My Body: The most hotly anticipated debut of the summer

In her debut novel, Violet Kupersmith explores the history of Vietnam's colonial past and the lives of two young Vietnamese women who go missing decades apart. The novel is a must-read for fans of Cecile Pin, NoViolet Bulowayo, and Ruth Ozeki.

Format: Hardback
Length: 400 pages
Publication date: 08 July 2021
Publisher: Oneworld Publications

The Sunday Times has hailed Violet Kupersmith's debut novel, Circe, as a "fantastic" and "beautiful, brilliant, and powerful" masterpiece. The novel, which blends elements of ghost story, historical exploration, and revenge narrative, has garnered critical acclaim for its captivating storytelling and vivid portrayal of Vietnam's colonial past.

Set in two different time periods, 1986 and 2011, the novel follows the lives of two young Vietnamese women, Nguyen Thi Anh and Nguyen Thi Hien, who are both fearless and lost in their own ways. While Anh, a teenage daughter of a wealthy Vietnamese family, gets lost in an abandoned rubber plantation during her escape from her angry father, Hien, a Vietnamese-American woman, disappears from her new home in Saigon without a trace.

What connects these two women across decades and continents is a web of past generations, ghosts, and ancestors, as well as the history of possessed bodies and possessed lands. Violet Kupersmith skillfully weaves these threads together to create an immersive, playful, and utterly unforgettable debut novel. The fates of Anh and Hien are inescapably linked, bound together by the echoes of their past and the forces that have shaped their lives.

Circe is a testament to the power of storytelling and the limitless possibilities of fiction. It reignites the reader's love for the form and its ability to transport us to new worlds and explore the depths of human emotion. David Mitchell, the acclaimed author of Cloud Atlas, has praised Violet Kupersmith's debut as "fiction as daring and accomplished as it is kaleidoscopic."

With its stunning prose, intricate character development, and provocative themes, Circe is a must-read for fans of Cecile Pin, NoViolet Bulowayo, and Ruth Ozeki. Prepare to be transported to the haunting landscapes of Vietnam and immersed in a story that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.

Weight: 618g
Dimension: 162 x 242 x 38 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780861540990