Love and Other Thought Experiments

SOPHIE WARD

This impressive literary debut takes as its premise and inspiration ten of the best-known thought experiments in philosophy - the 'what ifs' of philosophical investigation - and uses them to talk about love in a wholly unique way.

Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2020Longlisted for the Desmond Eliot Prize 2020Longlisted for the Polari Prize 2021Featuring on BBC 2's Between the Covers'Sophie Ward is a dazzling talent who writes like a modern-day F Scott Fitzgerald' Elizabeth Day, author of How To Fail'An act of such breath-taking imagination, daring and detail that the journey we are on is believable and the debate in the mind non-stop. There are elements of Doris Lessing in the writing - a huge emerging talent here' Fiona Shaw'A towering literary achievement' Ruth Hogan, author of The Keeper of Lost ThingsRachel and Eliza are planning their future together. One night in bed Rachel wakes up terrified and tells Eliza that an ant has crawled into her eye and is stuck there. Rachel is certain; Eliza, a scientist, is sceptical. Suddenly their entire relationship is called into question. What follows is a uniquely imaginitive sequence of interlinked stories ranging across time, place and perspective to form a sparkling philosophical tale of love, lost and found across the universe.