Chrysalis - by Anna Metcalfe (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Included in Granta's Best of Young British Novelists 2023

This provocative, fiercely imaginative debut follows a woman trying to slip the shackles of society by controlling her body and mind in extreme ways.

It was hard to be in the present, she said, but if her body were heavier and more in control, then her thoughts would clear and her mind would recover its power.

An enigmatic young woman drastically transforms her body, working to become bigger, stronger, and stiller in the wake of a trauma. We see her through the eyes of three people, each uniquely mesmerized by her, as they reckon with the consequences of her bizarre metamorphosis. Each of them leaves us with a puzzle piece of who she was before she became someone else. Elliot, a recluse who notices her at the gym, witnesses her physical evolution and becomes her first acolyte. Bella, her mother, worries about the intense effect her daughter's new way of life is beginning to have on others, and she reflects on their relationship, a close cocoon from which her daughter has broken free. Susie, her ex-colleague and best friend, offers her sanctuary and support as she makes the transition to self-created online phenomenon, posting viral meditation videos that encourage her followers to join her in achieving self-sufficiency by isolating themselves from everyone else in their lives.

Uncanny, alluring, and intimate, Chrysalis raises vital questions about selfhood and solitude. This daring novel asks if it is possible for a woman to have agency over her body while remaining part of society, and then offers its own explosive answer.

Review Quotes

"[An] eerie and mesmerizing debut . . . Chrysalis is a thrilling look at how we spin silk around ourselves by watching the world on our screens." --The New York Times

"Chrysalis is a savvy exploration of one woman's desire to inspire others, and how self-presentation can tip into obsession." --The Guardian

"[An] eerily cool debut... in its acute examination of voyeurism, image and the deceptive nature of connection, [it] feels tailor-made for the age of the internet." --Daily Mail

"Deliciously timely. . . . [Chrysalis] raises questions about all sorts of themes including solitude, influence and agency. The big one is of course: how well do we really know anyone? Metcalfe is a properly clever writer--she moves deftly between the voices of her narrators with ease, while her prose is assured, unforced and almost graceful." --AnOther Magazine

"A powerful, eerie debut novel that investigates stillnessand selfishness." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Perceptive. . . . An intriguing exercise in narrative. . . . Metcalfe clearly has her finger on the pulse of internet culture and its habitués." --Publishers Weekly

"Taking on questions of femininity and expectation, as well as social media and its ability to make a cult leader of anyone, Chrysalis raises as many questions as it answers about our society and our place within it." --Literary Hub

"Metcalfe's writing traffics in suggestion and allusion, and is concerned with ideas of reinvention, identity and obligation." --Granta

"I just devoured this wonderful, painful, funny novel. Every sentence is full of energy, every description just delicious. I was so struck by the strange loneliness of being in our own heads--this journey to selfhood as a complete internalization, without much interest in a relational existence, except inasmuch as it fosters that transformation. It's so beautiful and cruel, and summed up just perfectly by the ending. Chrysalis gave me chills." --Avni Doshi, author of the Booker Prize finalist Burnt Sugar

"A beautifully conceived triptych, shining and modern." --Lillian Fishman, author of Acts of Service

"Unputdownable, ice-cool and wittily contemporary, Chrysalis announces Anna Metcalfe as a distinctive and daring fresh literary voice." --Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti

"A masterclass in character, Chrysalis is an unsettling and brilliant portrait--not just of a woman in transformation or of those who fall into her orbit, but also of a world defined simultaneously by our isolation and by our longing to connect. This is a sharply-wrought, surprisingly tender book about how our internal changes create external change . . . often in ways we didn't intend." --Jen Silverman, author of We Play Ourselves

"I can't stop thinking about this incredibly smart and totally unique novel. Ranging from online obsession, to mothers and daughters, to the very nature of selfhood, Chrysalis is strange and warm and, crucially, very funny. With shades of Han Kang, Catherine Lacey, and Gwendoline Riley, Metcalfe's writing is both dissecting and effortless; I savored every last brilliant sentence." --Ruth Gilligan, author of The Butchers' Blessing

About the Author

ANNA METCALFE was born in Germany. Her short fiction has been published in The Best of British Short Stories, The Dublin Review, and Lighthouse Journal, among other places, and has been shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize and the Sunday Times Short Story Award. She is the author of a story collection, Blind Water Pass, which was published in the UK. She teaches creative writing at the University of Birmingham. Chrysalis is her first novel.