The Odyssey
Meet Ingrid, resident lifeguard, gift-shop girl, and manicurist on the gargantuan cruise ship she’s called home for the past five years. After being chosen by the ship’s enigmatic captain to join his mentoring program, Ingrid’s life onboard starts to fall apart. But eventually, she will have to ask herself: how far is too far? A wickedly funny satire on modern life from the award-winning author of Supper Club.
ISBN
9781638930068
Language
English
Page count
240
Edition
Hardcover
Sale date
April 26, 2022
Dimensions
5.5 x 8.25
About the Book
Ingrid works on a gargantuan luxury cruise liner where she spends her days reorganizing the gift shop shelves and waiting for long-term guests to drop dead in the aisles. On her days off, she disembarks from the ship, wasting the hours aimlessly following tourists around, drinking the local alcohol, and buying clothes she never intends to wear again. It’s not a bad life. At least, it distracts her from thinking about the other life—the other person—she left behind five years ago.
That is, until the day she is selected by the ship’s enigmatic captain and (ill-informed) wabi sabi devotee, Keith, for his mentorship program. Encouraging her to reflect on past mistakes and her desperation to remain lost at sea, Keith pushes Ingrid further than she ever thought possible. But as her friendships and professional life onboard steadily fall apart, Ingrid must ask herself: how do you know when you have gone too far?
Utterly original, mischievous, and thought-provoking, The Odyssey is a merciless takedown of consumer capitalism and our anxious, ill-fated quests to find something to believe in. It’s a voyage that will lead our heroine all the way home, though she will do almost anything to avoid getting there.
Lara Williams
Lara Williams is the author of A Selfie As Big As The Ritz and Supper Club. A Selfie As Big As The Ritzwas shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, the Edinburgh First Book Award and the Saboteur Awards and longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, and Supper Club won the Guardian ‘Not the Booker’ Prize, was named as a Book of the Year 2019 by TIME and Vogue, and has been translated into six languages. Lara Williams lives in Manchester in the UK and is a contributor to the Guardian, Independent, Times Literary Supplement, Vice, Dazed and others.
