People Collide: A Novel [Paperback]

One of the years most compelling reads.Washington Post

Its naturalness and ease with the most fundamental questions of existence make it a big project knocking around in a small package.New York Times

From the acclaimed author ofThe Atmospherians, a gender-bending, speculative body-switching novel that explores marriage, identity, and sex, and raises profound questions about the nature of true partnership.

When Eli leaves the cramped Bulgarian apartment he shares with Elizabeth, his more organized and successful wife, he discovers that he now inhabits her body. Not only have he and his wife traded bodies, but Elizabeth, living as Eli, has disappeared without a trace. What follows is Elis search across Europe and to America for his missing wifeand a roving, no-holds-barred exploration of gender and embodied experience in this high-concept literary fiction.

As Eli comes closer to finding Elizabethwhile learning to exist in her bodyhe begins to wonder what effect this metamorphosis will have on their relationship and how long he can maintain the illusion of living as someone he isnt. Will their unconventional marriage wither completely? Or is this transformation the very thing Eli and Elizabeth need for their marriage to thrive?

A rich, rewarding exploration of ambition and sacrifice, desire and loss,People Collideis a philosophical novel and a portrait of shared lives that shines a refreshing light on everything we thought we knew about love, sexuality, and the truth of who we are.

A profound and moving meditation on love and commitment swapped into the body of a gripping literary thriller—I predict Isle McElroy’sPeople Collidewill inaugurate an entire genre. -Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby

Engrossing . . . an impressive twist on the familiar trope of marital ennui. -Publishers Weekly

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