Daphne: A Novel [Hardcover]

An elegant meditation on modern-day emotion. . . . Boast is interested in the ways we handle the unwieldy welter of emotions that defines human existence (Were absolutely pickled in it, Daphne notes), how we protect ourselves from the pain of others and fail to express our own. . . . Even the most hard-hearted reader will find Boasts deep awe of what it is to feel catching.Boast seems to have captured todays cultural zeitgeist&Watching Ollie and Daphne fall in love is both sweet and fraught&[Daphnes] plight is universal; risk losing control over ones own life by embracing human intimacy, or remain in the safe isolation of a hermetically sealed existence.Boasts novel is an amiable exploration of how humans might come to manage their raucous hearts.[An] engaging debut&[In his stunning first novel, Boast turns the myth of Daphne and Apollo into a modern love story about social anxiety and physical debilitation&Sharply observant, both of the limits of human longing and of the fear of feeling trapped inside ones body, Boasts understated tale is at once tragic and enchanting.Psychology and myth twist into each other in this debut novel about vulnerability and fear. . . . Boast's story is rooted in myth. But it's his perceptive take on the risks of emotion that the reader will remember.Supple. . . . Boast precisely depicts Daphnes emotional states, with brief, sensorily rich passages when she is on the brink of overload. . . . The novel offers a striking metaphor for the ways emotion is experienced in the body.Will Boast has written a novel that exquisitely marries ancient mythology and au courant medicine to tell our favorite tale, the love story, with insights both age-old and brand-spanking new. It's a fine, fine ride.Richly meditative and quietly suspenseful,In mesmerizing prose, best-selling andRome Prizewinning author Will Boastreimagines the myth of Daphne and Apolloin this much-anticipated debut novel.