Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies

Winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize
Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year and the Goldsmiths Prize
Longlisted for the Booker Prize and the Dylan Thomas Prize

Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies is a story of coming-of-age at the end of a life. Utterly heart-breaking yet darkly funny, Maddie Mortimer's debut is a symphonic journey through one woman's body: a celebration of desire, forgiveness, and the darkness within us all.

'Original, memorable, shimmering' - Sarah Moss, author of Ghost Wall

Lia has only one child, Iris; her magical, awkward, endlessly creative daughter who has just entered the battleground of her teenage years. Lia and Iris have always been close, but there is a war playing out inside Lia's body, too, and everything is about to change.

As she confronts what might be the end, memories of her own childhood and a passionate love affair come rushing into her present, unearthing buried secrets and her family's deepest fears. But Lia still has hope . . . for more time, for more love, for more Iris.

'Restlessly inventive . . . delicate and persuasive' - The Guardian
'Extraordinary, kaleidoscopic' - Daisy Johnson, author of Everything, Under

Review: Remarkable . . . A tearjerker, but it's hopeful too . . . Brave, inventive and mature * Sunday Times *
Here is a book to dance and sing about. An extraordinary, kaleidoscopic dive into language -- Daisy Johnson, Man Booker-shortlisted author of Everything, Under
Compelling and uplifting . . . undeniably impressive: Mortimer is clearly a talent to watch * Telegraph *
An original and memorable novel written in shimmering prose. The characters stayed with me long after I'd finished reading -- Sarah Moss, Women's Prize-shortlisted author of Ghost Wall and Summerwater
Lyrical and beautiful, this is a novel unlike anything else * Stylist *
Both expansive and intimate, Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies is an intricate portrait of a life hurtling towards the inevitable. An extraordinary debut. -- Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Mercies
Striking . . . formally inventive . . . Sadness is not allowed to crowd out wit and joy * New Yorker *
A beautiful novel about death that feels completely alive, pulsing with tenderness and wit -- Megan Hunter, author of The End We Start From and The Harpy
An extraordinary debut, unlike anything I've read. Wildly inventive, poetic and poignant, this is a rare gem of a novel that took my imagination to new places and touched my heart. -- Emma Stonex, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lamplighters

Technically dazzling . . . Mortimer has the same felicity with language as Jon McGregor, combining an incantatory prose style with imagery so acute it almost burns
* Daily Mail *
Ambitious, sprawling . . . brings to mind Eimear McBride's A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing . . . restlessly inventive . . . delicate and persuasive . . . sharply funny * Guardian *
It may move between different styles and moods, but underpinning it all is the book's bursting energy and, in the face of death, its verve for life * i newspaper *
This is a touching, eye-opening perspective on life and illness like you've never read before * Good Housekeeping *
Using word placement, font, and shape to create images on the page, Mortimer deepens the reader's engagement with the story and characters . . . Through breathtaking attention to detail, Mortimer crafts a stunning novel that touches on the expanses one life can contain * Booklist (starred) *
Maddie Mortimer's dazzling debut novel about a woman with breast cancer is a life-affirming read - all the more so because of its proximity to death . . . While there are many books that explore these themes, it is rare to find one that does so in such an immersive and harrowing way * Straits Times *