Love And Other Thought Experiments (Longlisted For The Booke

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Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2020

'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.

Review: Sophie Ward is a dazzling talent who writes like a modern-day F Scott Fitzgerald -- Elizabeth Day
a genuinely affective family narrative that is emotionally compelling as well as intellectually stimulating. Surely not since Jostein Gaarder's 1991 novel Sophie's World, has an author produced such an imaginative and original synthesis of fiction and philosophy -- Becky Long * Irish Times *
In Love and Other Thought Experiments, Ward proposes to alter the colour of her readers' minds . . . But the success of Ward's venture inevitably depends on the quality of the writing. This is often moving, exuberant and sensitive. We care about her characters and share their hopes and fears. Ward's investigation and practice of empathy is easily the best thing in the book. * the Guardian *
Brimming with close observation . . . the sheer literary ambition on show is impressive, with Ward producing a highly original first novel that echoes European experimentalists such as Kundera and Krasznahorkai * Spectator *
Ward has achieved something quite extraordinary: a super-smart metaphysical romp that's also warm, wistful and heartfelt. A book that declares, winningly, that just because it's all in your head, it doesn't mean it's not real. * the Daily Telegraph *
It is 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
Ward's ingenious fiction debut stands in a tradition of philosophical fiction: Voltaire's Candide, Sartre's Nausea . . . [Her] writing is often moving, exuberant and sensitive . . . gifts of bravura wit and imagination -- Stevie Davies * Guardian *
Love and Other Thought Experiments is a towering literary achievement. Sophie's prose is exquisite and her storytelling powerful, poignant and utterly gripping. An astonishing debut * Ruth Hogan, author of The Keeper of Lost Things *

Philosophy meets fiction in this beguiling and intriguing novel of minds, hearts, other worlds, love, death and everything in between. It's a book that dances and dazzles with ideas and left me thinking long after I finished it
Sophie Kinsella

Sophie Ward's writing is as clear as a knife sounded against a glass and just as attention-grabbing. Fiction, fable and philosophy combined together with real human folly and fate at its heart. This book is as hard to pin down as it's impossible to forget

Prizes: Long-listed for Desmond Elliott Prize 2020 (UK) and The Booker Prize 2020 (UK).

Author Biography: Sophie Ward is an actor and writer. Her book, A Marriage Proposal; The importance of equal marriage and what it means for us all, was published by Guardian short books in 2014. She has a degree in Philosophy and Literature and her PhD at Goldsmiths focused on the use of narrative in philosophy of mind.