The Mars Room

From the author of internationally acclaimed The Flamethrowers - a fearless and heartbreaking novel about love, friendship and incarceration.SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZETHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA fearless and heartbreaking novel about love, friendship and incarceration, from the author of the internationally acclaimed The Flamethrowers.'Astounding... this year's must-read' ANNE ENRIGHTRomy Hall is starting two consecutive life sentences at Stanville Women's Correctional Facility. Her crime? The killing of her stalker.Inside awaits a world where women must hustle and fight for the bare essentials. Outside- the San Francisco of her youth. The Mars Room strip club where she was once a dancer. Her seven-year-old son, Jackson.As Romy forms friendships over liquor brewed in socks and stories shared through sewage pipes her future seems to unfurl in one long, unwavering line - until news from beyond the prison bars forces Romy to try and outrun her destiny. Pre-order Rachel Kushner's new novel, Creation Lake, now 'Breathtaking' VOGUE'One of our most outstanding modern writers' STYLIST'Gritty, empathetic, finely rendered' MARGARET ATWOOD (on Twitter)

Short-listed for Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2018 (UK)

“It is an unforgettable novel, and leaves the reader in no doubt that Kushner is one of America's greatest living authors.”

It is an unforgettable novel, and leaves the reader in no doubt that Kushner is one of America’s greatest living authors. Daily Telegraph
One of the greatest novels I have read in years. Her prior novel, The Flamethrowers, was expansive and thrilling, but this is richer and deeper, more ambitious in its moral vision… an exhilarating, always surprising read. Irish Times
When I finished reading The Mars Room, I immediately reread it because I didn’t want to leave its world… The Mars Room teems with quick and distinctive voices. -- Max Liu Financial Times
Cements [Kushner's] status as one of America's finest writers. Vogue, Must-Read Books of 2018
I’ve been bowled over by Rachel Kushner’s The Mars Room [about life in a women’s prison]. It’s astounding – very difficult to read but so beautifully done, and with such knowledge, although it doesn’t feel like a “researched” book. -- Anne Tyler Observer
If you haven’t heard of Rachel Kushner yet, you soon will. The American novelist has earned comparisons to Jennifer Egan and Jonathan Franzen… [The Mars Room] makes for a compelling read. Imagine a darker version of "Orange Is The New Black". Sunday Times Style
[A] grainy and persuasive novel... This is a brooding book, one that dwells on Dostoyevskian notions of innocence and evil. It moves like a muscle car, oozing down the side roads of your mind. -- Dwight Garner New York Times Critics' Top Books of 2018
Kushner, a two-time National Book Award finalist, slowly and deliciously unfolds the tapestry of Romy’s backstory – infusing mystery and humor in unlikely places – while interrogating the harsh realities of the U.S. prison system. -- Lucy Feldman Time Magazine The Best of Culture 2018
Rachel Kushner’s The Mars Room shows what happens when a smart writer gets truly serious. It is a necessary and compelling book, and this year’s must read. -- Anne Enright
It's her best book yet, another big step forward. -- Jonathan Franzen

Rachel Kushner is the author of The Hard Crowd, her acclaimed essay collection, and the internationally bestselling novels The Mars Room, The Flamethrowers, and Telex from Cuba, as well as a book of short stories, The Strange Case of Rachel K. She has won the Prix Medicis and been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Folio Prize, and was twice a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction. She is a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow and the recipient of the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her books are translated into twenty-seven languages.

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