The Shadow of the Object

About the book

***LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2026***
'We were charmed by the novel's meditation on friendship and grief, and its suggestion that the most meaningful truths can be found in the shadows.'- Booker Prize Judges 2026
'One of our boldest writers' Deborah Levy
A magnificent work of shadow-play and a meditation on desire, metamorphosis and mortality.
Flora is visiting home in Mexico when the family dog leaps up and bites her hand. She winds up in hospital where she undergoes several surgeries under anaesthesia and meets Wilhelmina, an elderly German woman with pneumonia, who collects pre-cinema toys and instruments. The two of them embark on a series of dream-like conversations in the hospital corridors. Wilhelmina puts on a magic...