Daphne: A Novel [Paperback]

Will Boasts long-anticipated first novel is an outrightmarvelous debut [that] breathes fresh vigorinto timeless questions of love and risk (Lauravan den Berg). Born with a rare condition in which she suffersdegrees of paralysis when faced with intense emotion, Daphnehas had few close friends and fewer lovers. Like her mythicnamesake, one touch can freeze her. But when Daphne meetsshy, charming Ollie, her well-honed defenses falter, and shesfaced with a critical choice: cling to her protective isolation orrisk the recklessness of real intimacy. Set against the backdropof a San Francisco flush with money and pulsing with protest,Daphne is an amiable exploration of how humans might cometo manage their raucous hearts (NewYorker.com).In this elegant meditation on modern-day emotion ( An elegant meditation on modern-day emotion. . . . Boast is interested in the ways we handle the unwieldy welter of emotions that defines human existence (Were absolutely pickled in it, Daphne notes), how we protect ourselves from the pain of others and fail to express our own. . . . Even the most hard-hearted reader will find Boasts deep awe of what it is to feel catching. Boast seems to have captured todays cultural zeitgeist&Watching Ollie and Daphne fall in love is both sweet and fraught&[Daphnes] plight is universal; risk losing control over ones own life by embracing human intimacy, or remain in the safe isolation of a hermetically sealed existence. Boasts novel is an amiable exploration of how humans might come to manage their raucous hearts. [An] engaging debut&[ In his stunning first novel, Boast turns the myth of Daphne and Apollo into a modern love story about social anxiety and physical debilitation&Sharply observant, both of the limits of human longing and of the fear of feeling trapped inside ones body, Boasts understated tale is at once tragic and enchanting. Psychology and myth twist into each other in this debut novel about vulnerability and fear. . .lCÐ