Delphi

'Inviting, stylish and candid ... Pollard's future, as a novelist, is very bright indeed' The i 'Clever, warm, and funny' Sarah Moss, The Guardian 'This isn't the first - and most certainly won't be the last - pandemic novel, but it might be the most brilliant' Daily Mail 'I am sick of the future. Up to here with the future. I don't want anything to do with it; don't want it near me' It is 2020 and in a time more turbulent than any of us could have ever imagined, a woman is attempting to write a book about prophecy in the ancient world. Navigating the tightening grip of lockdown, a marriage in crisis, and a ten-year-old son who seems increasingly unreachable, she becomes fixated on our many forms of divination and prediction: on oracles, tarot cards and tea leaves and the questions we have always asked as we scroll and click and rage against our fates. But in doing so she fails to notice the future creeping into the heart of her own home. For despite our best intentions - our sacrifices and our bargains with the gods - time, certainty and, sometimes, those we love, can still slip away ... Heartbreakingly relatable and achingly funny Delphi is both a snapshot and a time capsule, deftly capturing our pasts, our presents, and how we keep on going in a world that is ever more uncertain and absurd. 'Delphi is a compact miracle of a book' Evie Wyld, author of The Bass Rock 'Bold, brave and uncompromising, Pollard has found a way to write about the last couple of years which is both truthful and enjoyable to read, which I didn't think was possible' Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of Everyone is Still Alive 'Dark and dangerous, disturbed and disturbing in equal measure - I loved it' Anna Hope, author of Expectation

About the Author :
Clare Pollard is an award-winning poet and playwright based in London. She is the author of five poetry collections and the former Editor of the Modern Poetry in Translation magazine. Her first novel, Delphi , was published by Fig Tree in 2022. The Modern Fairies is her second novel.

Review :
Inviting, stylish and candid ... Pollard's future, as a novelist, is very bright indeed For anyone looking for ways of thinking creatively and with love about art in an emergency and what just happened to us all I would recommend it, because despite the bleakness - you can't have realism without bleakness now - this is clever, warm and funny writing Funny and sharp ... Ripe with references and allusions ... Delphi is not just a novel about Covid; it's also about how a given historical moment such as the pandemic can connect us to the past and to the universal This isn't the first - and most certainly won't be the last - pandemic novel, but it might be the most brilliant ... As a scribe of the present, Pollard, who is a successful poet and playwright, often recalls Ali Smith. But whereas Smith's formula has lately seemed rather stale, Pollard's novel is consistently inspired, and will keep you gripped all the way through to the heart-stopping finale If you're a fan of Greek mythology, you'll enjoy Delphi ... What I loved most about this quick read is the straight-talking, frustrated narrative voice, which feels so real and relatable ... There's something strangely comforting about seeing the messiness of lockdown life through fictional eyes Set in the dark days of the 2020 lockdowns, this moodily relatable narrative introduces a protagonist who, faced with a global pandemic and a marriage in crisis, looks to the ancient art of prophecy for consolation ... This is a powerful fable about life in an ever-more unpredictable world Delphi distils something elusive and upsetting about all the things we can't quite see or understand about the present moment, even as all we ever do is look. This feels impressive, part of what good fiction is meant to do Darkly funny ... This book does a superb job of providing perspective by connecting our present moment to ancient history in a way that's clever and surprising. For fans of Jenny Offill, Ottessa Moshfegh and Sally Rooney, here's another hot sad girl book to add to your list There's a refreshing acerbity to the central character in Delphi ... Delphi is an angry, witty, at times despairing account of one woman's lockdown Finally, a brilliantly funny and sad look into the heart of the pandemic lockdown... Pollard's debut novel, Delphi, is a greatest hits of COVID-era angst that manages to avoid cliches and tired complaints while being reassuringly familiar at the same time... This is the COVID novel I've been wanting to read - the COVID novel that feels brilliantly true to real life while elevating the monotonous drag of lockdown into something funny, sad and universal... [in] compact, concise language... Characters, settings and even whole scenes are drawn in quick, exquisite precision full of wit and pathos. Its intimacy reminded me of Sally Rooney and its subtle, sly humor of Miriam Toews' All My Puny Sorrows... a reassuring reflection in the darkness An ingenious response to Covid, combining ancient Greek prophecy with the daily frustrations of lockdown to face up to our fears for the future Lyrical and ambitious, humorous and disturbing at points, Delphi is a relatable tale ... Delphi gets to the heart of what we might not see coming when the future isn't on our radar Delphi [...] deftly utilises the occult world to shine an unflinching light on domestic mundanity, midlife anxiety and our changed relationship with the future ... Pollard takes care to demonstrate that amidst overwhelming, life-altering experiences, we can find comfort in small miracles and moments - a smile from a loved one, or recovery from illness. An important reminder that there is a sense of hope and contentment to be found in the present Delphi is a triumph of sly observation, wit and tragedy... dark and dangerous, disturbed and disturbing in equal measure - I loved it. Consoling, harrowing, hilarious. I feel like it's healed me ...Pollard's narrator is so funny and so radically honest it leaves you reeling Delphi is a compact miracle of a book Bold, brave and uncompromising, Pollard has found a way to write about the last couple of years which is both truthful and enjoyable to read, which I didn't think was possible. Exhilarating, exciting, rare and beautiful Vivid as fireworks, Delphi explodes with the ambivalence, rage and dread of middle years lived within a world of pandemic and climate collapse. Both terrifying and exhilarating Using language that charms and beguiles, Clare Pollard cleverly creates moments of the darkest déjà vu, so that I was swept up into a story which I was both unnerved and reassured to recognise Delphi delivers an urgency unlike any I've experienced. I loved this book so much; the language, the humour, the style, which reminded me of both Patricia Lockwood and Sheila Heti. A brilliant novel born of searing eloquence and sinister wit Deeply intimate ... Not so much about the pandemic itself as it is about the madness that flows from it ... The novel vividly portrays what happens when everything stops working all at once, including the authorities we look to for succor and the stories we tell ourselves to cope