'Wise funny suspenseful' JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER 'Sardonic and strange ... With its dark humour
and loopy lyricism it bewitches' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Reads like a botanist's cross-breeding of
The Secret History and Department of Speculation' EMMA STRAUB Nell Barber an expelled PhD
candidate in Biological Science is exploring the fine line between poison and antidote
working alone to set a speed record for the detoxification of poisonous plants. Her mentor Dr.
Joan Kallas is the hero of Nell's heart. Nell frequently finds herself standing in the doorway
to Joan's office despite herself mesmerized by Joan's elegance success and spiritual force.
Surrounded by Nell's ex her best friend her best friend's boyfriend and Joan's buffoonish
husband the two scientists are tangled together at the center of a web of illicit
relationships grudges and obsessions. All six are burdened by desire and ambition and as
they collide on the university campus their attractions set in motion a domino effect of
affairs and heartbreak. Meanwhile Nell slowly fills her empty apartment with poisonous plants
to study and she begins to keep a series of notebooks all dedicated to Joan. She logs her
research and how she spends her days but the notebooks ultimately become a painstaking map of
love. In a dazzling and unforgettable voice Rebecca Dinerstein Knight has written a
spellbinding novel of emotional and intellectual intensity.
