Pod

Author(s): Laline Paull

Novel | 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction long list | 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction short list

Bestselling author of The Bees, Laline Paull returns with an immersive and transformative new novel of an ocean world - its extraordinary creatures, mysteries, and mythologies - that is increasingly haunted by the cruelty and ignorance of the human race.


Ea has always felt like an outsider. As a spinner dolphin who has recently come of age, she's now expected to join in the elaborate rituals that unite her pod. But Ea suffers from a type of deafness that means she just can't seem to master spinning. When catastrophe befalls her family and Ea knows she is partly to blame, she decides to make the ultimate sacrifice and leave the pod.


As Ea ventures into the vast, she discovers dangers everywhere, from lurking predators to strange objects floating in the water. Not to mention the ocean itself seems to be changing: creatures are mutating, demonic noises pierce the depths, whole species of fish disappear into the sky above. Just as she is coming to terms with her solitude, a chance encounter with a group of arrogant bottlenoses will irrevocably alter the course of her life.


In her terrifying, propulsive novel, Laline Paull explores the true meaning of family, belonging, sacrifice - the harmony and tragedy of the pod - within an ocean that is no longer the sanctuary it once was, and which reflects a world all too recognizable to our own.

Review: Laline Paull succeeds splendidly in rising to the most important literary challenge of our time - restoring voice and agency to other-than-human beings * Amitav Ghosh *
A pacy, provocative tale of survival in a fast-changing marine landscape * Daily Mail *
Extraordinary...A haunting story * Red magazine *
One for those intrigued by Cli-Fi . . . [a] terrifying novel * Cosmo, 'Best new good books to read' *
Thought provoking...The dramas of the ocean are played out in a perfectly compiled plot and, as you'd expect, the beauty of the underwater is vividly and sensitively written. It's another conversation starter * Belfast Telegraph *
What an extraordinary empathetic tale of life beneath the waves that spoke deeply to my salty heart . . . an absolutely essential read of an almost "psychedelic shaman" perspective of our underwater cousins * Ed Gillespie, author of Only Planet *
Any Laline Paull book release is something to get excited about. I love her work. Truly a distinctive force * Irenosen Okojie, author of Nudibranch *
Propulsive and pertinent... at once beautiful and terrifying, Paull captures the complexity of the dolphin pod dynamics, themes of family and belonging, and an eye-opening perspective of humanity's huge influence on the lives of sea creatures * Bridge Bookshop *
Keep an eye out for Pod ... [a] brilliant new novel, set amongst a dolphin community * The Bookanista *


 


 


Author Biography: London-born and of Indian heritage, Laline Paull studied English at Oxford, screenwriting in Los Angeles, and theatre in her home city. She writes across a variety of forms and lives in the English countryside with her family.


Product Information

Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023

General Fields

  • : 9781472156617
  • : Little Brown
  • : Corsair
  • : 0.3
  • : 01 April 2022
  • : 216mm x 134mm x 216mm
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Laline Paull
  • : Paperback
  • : 823.92