We’re absolutely thrilled to be hosting the launch of Lara Williams’ brilliant new novel THE ODYSSEY – a wickedly funny and slyly poignant satire on modern life. Lara will be in conversation with host Naomi Booth (Sealed, Exit Management).

About the book:

Meet Ingrid. She works on a gargantuan luxury cruise liner, where she spends her days reorganising the merchandise and waiting for long-term guests to drop dead in the changing rooms. On her days off, she disembarks from the ship and gets blind drunk on whatever the local alcohol is. It’s not a bad life. And it distracts her from thinking about the other life she left behind five years ago.

Until one day she is selected for the employee mentorship scheme – an initiative run by the ship’s mysterious captain and self-anointed lifestyle guru, Keith, who pushes Ingrid further than she thought possible. But sooner or later, she will have to ask herself: how far is too far?

Utterly original, mischievous and thought-provoking, The Odyssey is a merciless takedown of consumer capitalism and our anxious, ill-fated quests for something to believe in. And as its title suggests, it is a voyage that will eventually lead its unlikely heroine all the way home. Though she’d do almost anything to avoid getting there…

About the author:

Lara Williams is the author of Treats and Supper Club. Treats was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, the Edinburgh First Book Award and the Saboteur Awards and longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, and Supper Club won the Guardian ‘Not the Booker’ Prize, was named as a Book of the Year 2019 by TIME and Vogue, and has been translated into six languages. Lara Williams lives in Manchester and is a contributor to the Guardian, Independent, Times Literary Supplement, Vice, Dazed and others. In 2021 she was longlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award. The Odyssey is her second novel.

Naomi Booth is the author of The Lost Art of Sinking, Sealed and Exit Management. Her debut collection of short stories Animals at Night will be released by Dead Ink Books in June and we’ll be hosting the launch as part of a Short Story Salon on Tuesday 21st June.

Doors: 18.30, event starts: 18.45

Tickets are £3.00 or free when pre-ordering a copy of the book. THE ODYSSEY will also be available to purchase on the night and Lara will be signing copies after the talk. If you would like a signed copy but cannot make the event, please contact us on 0161 274 3331 or manchester@blackwell.co.uk and we can arrange this for you.