Love and Other Thought Experiments
Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2020
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Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2020
Longlisted for the Desmond Eliot Prize 2020
Longlisted for the Polari Prize 2021
Featuring on BBC 2's Between the Covers
'Sophie Ward is a dazzling talent who writes like a modern-day F Scott Fitzgerald' Elizabeth Day, author of How To Fail
'An act of such breath-taking imagination, daring and detail that the journey we are on is believable and the debate in the mind non-stop. There are elements of Doris Lessing in the writing - a huge emerging talent here' Fiona Shaw
'A towering literary achievement' Ruth Hogan, author of The Keeper of Lost Things
Rachel and Eliza are planning their future together. One night in bed Rachel wakes up terrified and tells Eliza that an ant has crawled into her eye and is stuck there. Rachel is certain; Eliza, a scientist, is sceptical. Suddenly their entire relationship is called into question. What follows is a uniquely imaginitive sequence of interlinked stories ranging across time, place and perspective to form a sparkling philosophical tale of love, lost and found across the universe.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This intriguing debut from actor and philosophy scholar Ward reflects on relationships and reality with the story of a lesbian couple and others in their orbit. Each chapter begins with a philosophical concept, such as Pascal's wager, which posits that the gain of believing in God outweighs the risk of not. Ward ties the concept directly to the plot, as with Eliza, who weighs the costs and benefits of believing her partner, Rachel, when she says an ant has entered her brain through her eye. The novel continues with vignettes about others in the couple's lives, such as their exterminator, Ali, who had a near-death experience as a child; Rachel's mother, Elizabeth, who ran away to Brazil to avoid her discomfort with having a lesbian daughter; and the couple's son, Arthur, who is raised by Eliza after Rachel dies from a brain tumor. Halfway through, Ward takes a metaphysical turn, entering the point of view of the ant inside Rachel's head while exploring David Chalmers's p-zombie theory, which explains that consciousness is not tied to the human body. The conceptual jumps can feel scattered and forced, but the author's grasp on the ideas at play effectively and poignantly connects readers with the characters' grief. For the most part, Ward's weird experimental meld is effective.
