Possessions The

Product Description

The Elysian Society provides a very valuable community service. Its clients come to reconnect with spouses and siblings, parents and children they have lost - by means of encounters with a Body who can facilitate the renewed contact. Edie is one such Body, perhaps the best in the team, renowned for her professionalism, probity and impartiality. But when Patrick, a distraught husband, comes to look for traces of his drowned wife in Edie, more than one mystery bubbles to the surface, leaving Edie to wonder for how long she can remain a mystery to herself, to her own hopes and desires. The Possessions is a debut novel of uncommon control and skill, written in a clean, crisp manner reminiscent of Kazuo Ishiguro in Never Let Me Go. It announces the arrival of an unusually talented storyteller, with an ear for the uncanny. 'I was totally immersed in the strange, beautiful world of Sara Flannery Murphy's The Possessions. A gripping, chilling read that's part love story, part mystery, and completely original, it's sensuous, scary, and utterly thrilling. I've never read anything quite like it.' - Anton DiSclafani, author of The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls 'The Possessions might be the most affecting, riveting novel about love and obsession I've read in a decade. Sara Flannery Murphy possesses the dystopian imagination of Margaret Atwood and the keen feminist incisiveness of Heidi Julavits, but the haunting, seductive prose is all her own. This is a literary ghost story for a whole new generation.' - Christopher Bollen, author of Orient 'An enthralling meditation on grief and memory cloaked in suspenseful psychodrama, The Possessions dissolves the boundaries of past and present and artfully, heartbreakingly maps the consequences of transgressive desire. Sara Flannery Murphy has written the best kind of ghost story.' - Robin Wasserman, author of Girls on FireThe Elysian Society provides a very valuable community service. Its clients come to reconnect with spouses and siblings, parents and children they have lost - by means of encounters with a Body who can facilitate the renewed contact. Edie is one such Body, perhaps the best in the team, renowned for her professionalism, probity and impartiality. But when Patrick, a distraught husband, comes to look for traces of his drowned wife in Edie, more than one mystery bubbles to the surface, leaving Edie to wonder for how long she can remain a mystery to herself, to her own hopes and desires. The Possessions is a debut novel of uncommon control and skill, written in a clean, crisp manner reminiscent of Kazuo Ishiguro in Never Let Me Go. It announces the arrival of an unusually talented storyteller, with an ear for the uncanny. 'I was totally immersed in the strange, beautiful world of Sara Flannery Murphy's The Possessions. A gripping, chilling read that's part love story, part mystery, and completely original, it's sensuous, scary, and utterly thrilling. I've never read anything quite like it.' - Anton DiSclafani, author of The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls 'The Possessions might be the most affecting, riveting novel about love and obsession I've read in a decade. Sara Flannery Murphy possesses the dystopian imagination of Margaret Atwood and the keen feminist incisiveness of Heidi Julavits, but the haunting, seductive prose is all her own. This is a literary ghost story for a whole new generation.' - Christopher Bollen, author of Orient 'An enthralling meditation on grief and memory cloaked in suspenseful psychodrama, The Possessions dissolves the boundaries of past and present and artfully, heartbreakingly maps the consequences of transgressive desire. Sara Flannery Murphy has written the best kind of ghost story.' - Robin Wasserman, author of Girls on Fire
Sara Flannery Murphy was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. Throughout Murphy's childhood, her family divided their time between Little Rock and Eureka Springs, a small tourist town and artists' community in the Ozark Mountains. Murphy received her MFA in Creative Writing from Washington University in St. Louis. While living in St. Louis, she studied with writers including Kathryn Davis. She also had the chance to teach creative writing. She later attended the University of British Columbia with a focus on library science. An avid bookworm, Murphy especially loves thrillers and mysteries. Some of her major influences include Shirley Jackson and Charlotte Br nte. She enjoys TV series and films that explore the dark and the uncanny, from procedural dramas to horror. Murphy currently lives in an Oklahoma college town with her husband and son. Her shorter work has appeared in journals including Storyglossia and Tammy. The Possessions is her first novel.