NAMED AS ONE OF GRANTA MAGAZINE'S BEST OF YOUNG BRITISH NOVELISTS 2023 "An eerily cool
debut... Tailor-made for the age of the internet" Daily Mail She is noticed by Elliot as he
trains in in the gym. He sees her dedication to building her body and taking up space and he
is drawn to her strength. She is observed by her mother as she grows from a taciturn
tremulous child into a determined and distant woman who severs all familial ties. She is
watched by her former colleague Susie who offers her sanctuary and support as she leaves her
partner and rebuilds her life transforming her body and reinventing herself online. Each of
these three witnesses desires closeness. Each is left with only the husk of the person they
thought they knew before she became someone else: a woman on a singular and solitary path with
the power to inspire and to influence her followers for good and ill. Chrysalis a story
about solitude and selfhood and about the blurred line between self-care and narcissism. It is
about controlling the body and the mind about the place of the individual within society and
what it means when someone chooses to leave society behind. It is a strikingly contemporary
story about the search for answers and those we trust to give them to us.
