The Terranauts

Description

Linda is desperate to be one of the lucky eight chosen to take part in the world's most ambitious ecological experiment. Gazing longingly at Ecosphere II, which rises like a spaceship from the Arizona desert, Linda knows she can survive under its glass dome. Competition is fierce between the hopefuls, among them smooth-talking PR man Ramsay, and Dawn, a naive beauty. All are certain that they would never, ever, break closure before two years are up - unlike their discredited predecessors. Inside this humid microcosm, the terranauts' labours over crops and livestock, their battles with creepy crawlies, their hostilities and sexual dalliances - all are observed by the tourists who come to gawp, Mission Control's cameras and the watchful eye of the media. As the crew struggles to control nature, and hunger sets in, the snake in this Eden starts to look unmistakably human. Inspired by real-life events, The Terranauts is a darkly comic, acutely insightful story of human behaviour, animal instincts, idealism and ambition. Placing utopian visions and individual motives under the microscope, this is T. C. Boyle at his acerbic, pitch-perfect best.

Promotion info

Eight people take part in an ecological experiment in 1990s Arizona. Inspired by real events, The Terranauts places human behaviour under the microscope to spellbinding effect

Reviews

T. C. Boyle is by far and away one of the most inventive, adventurous and accomplished fiction writers in the US today ... Most of all, he is a mesmerising storyteller -- Lionel Shriver Boyle is a writer who chooses a large canvas and fills it to the edges -- Barbara Kingsolver A virtuoso craftsman -- Annie Proulx A sort of Frank Zappa of American letters ... Boyle is incapable of writing a boring sentence Financial Times Like the brilliant Karl Ove Knausgaard, he can make the cooking of a pork chop so exciting that you find yourself on the edge of your seat ... a master The Times

Author description

T. C. Boyle is the New York Times bestselling author of fifteen novels including The Tortilla Curtain, Drop City, The Harder They Come and San Miguel, and ten collections of stories, most recently T. C. Boyle Stories II. His work has been translated into twenty-five languages and has won a PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He is a member of the Academy of Arts and Letters and lives in California. tcboyle.com