Demi-Gods

Author(s): Eliza Robertson

Short Stories

"One of the most memorable first novels I've read in 2018."--Wall Street Journal

"The heat ripples into sentences dripping with delicious detail... Its nod to the classics makes Demi-Gods comparable to Donna Tartt's The Secret History. As does the feeling of a new and important author arriving." - Financial Times

"In her poetic, essential debut novel, Eliza Robertson aims an unflinching gaze at the temptation and consequences of weaponized desire. Demi-Gods is a brutally beautiful coming-of-age story that sings with language as lovely, wild, and full of ominous longing as the young woman at its center." - Robin Wasserman, author of Girls on Fire

A story of love, lust, and the spaces in between, from a "captivating" (New York Times) new voice in fiction.


It is 1950, and Willa's mother has a new beau. The arrival of his blue-eyed, sun-kissed sons at Willa's summer home signals the end of her safe childhood. As her entrancing older sister Joan pairs off with Kenneth, nine-year-old Willa is drawn to his strange and solitary younger brother, Patrick.

Left to their own devices, Willa is swept up in Patrick's wicked games. As they grow up, their encounters become increasingly charged with sexuality and degradation. But when Willa finally tries to reverse the trajectory of their relationship, an act of desperation has devastating results. 

Unfolding between the wild freedoms of British Columbia and the glittering beaches of California, Demi-Gods explores a girl's attempt to forge a path of her own choosing in a world where female independence is suspect. Sensitive, playful, and entirely original, Eliza Robertson is one of the most exciting new voices in contemporary literature.

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A bold debut novel reminiscent of Emma Cline's The Girls; a story of love, lust and the spaces in between, from a 'captivating' (New York Times) new voice in fiction

Demi-Gods traces the border between fear and attraction. The novel throbs with ominous details ... Yet, it is also a book riddled with beauty - the way sunlight can transform a body, the depth of a moth's wings, the way a girl's body can beat to the same rhythm as the sea ... This novel will sneak under your skin * Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of Harmless Like You * Unsettling and compulsive, Demi-Gods is a fearless novel and Eliza Robertson a daring new novelist * John Boyne, author of All the Invisible Furies * A feat of subtlety and daring ... Robertson portrays complex relationships with breathtaking precision and compassion, revealing the human bonds that protect, falter, survive and heal. I absolutely love this novel * Alison MacLeod, author of All the Beloved Ghosts * Demi-Gods combines the unnerving, naked female candour of Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend with a darkened menace worthy of German director Michael Haneke * Zsuzsi Gartner, author of Better Living Through Plastic Explosives * PRAISE FOR WALLFLOWERS: 'Reading Wallflowers is like taking a solo swim across a chilly lake. You become mesmerized by details - the silken texture of the water, the cool air on your arms as they rise and fall, the rhythm of your breath, the dark scrub of trees on the distant shore - without ever forgetting the mysteries and potential dangers that lurk beneath ... Captivating * New York Times * A young writer who succeeds in imagining the world afresh * Independent * The stories in Eliza Robertson's first collection are filled with lush flora and fauna, both real and figurative. Assured and ambitious * Guardian * A significant new talent. The ordinary and everyday become imbued with a strange significance, albeit with a feather-light touch; Robertson's prose is never weighed down, even as it imparts a sense of uneasiness, anticipation. Robertson lets images vibrate with possibilities ... Every story, individually, is sharp, illuminating * Independent on Sunday *

Eliza Robertson attended the University of Victoria and the University of East Anglia, where she received the 2011 Man Booker Scholarship. In 2013, she won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and was a finalist for the CBC Short Story Prize and the Journey Prize. Her first story collection, Wallflowers, was shortlisted for the East Anglia Book Award and selected as a New York Times Editor's Choice. In 2015, she was named one of five emerging writers for the Writers' Trust Five x Five program. She lives in Montreal. elizarobertson.com @ElizaRoberts0n

General Fields

  • : 9781408890400
  • : Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • : Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • : 0.261269
  • : November 2017
  • : 216mm X 135mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : November 2017
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Eliza Robertson
  • : Paperback
  • : Export/Airside
  • : 813.6
  • : 240