Spent : A Comic Novel

A mortally funny story of a mother's quest to save her son against all odds'Transcendent and dazzlingly weird' New York Times'Amie Barrodale is the most important writer of my generation' Ottessa MoshfeghSandra dies unexpectedly at a conference in Nepal. Across the world in a desert in New Mexico, her teenage son, Trip, has run away from a centre for troubled youth. But Sandra soon discovers that a mother’s work is never done, not even when you’re dead. It turns out limbo is a great place from which to keep an eye on your errant son. When Trip is picked up on the side of the road by a strange man, Sandra is the only one who knows where he is. As Trip ventures further south towards the coast and directly into the eye of a hurricane, Sandra’s struggle to save him from the other realm begins. From Florida’s Gulf Stream to the raging seas, through Munich-bound aeroplanes and from one body to another, Trip takes us on an absurd, profound and irresistibly entertaining odyssey - a story of childhood and motherhood, life and death, and everything in between. 'Beautifully crafted, hard-boiled fun' Nell Zink'I was captivated and charmed for its entirety' Adelaide Faith'An extraordinary novel' Akhil Sharma