About the Book
Brought to you by Penguin.
Only one thing stands between Alexander Paine Wilson and his destiny... and it has long ears, spoon-like claws and a tubular snout...
Republican congressman Alexander Paine Wilson is determined that nothing will stop him in his campaign for re-election. Not the fact that he is a bachelor, not the fact that his main adversary Nancy Beavers - married, with children - is rising in the polls. Nothing. That is, until one hot day in August, he receives a large parcel via FedEx. Inside is a gigantic taxidermied aardvark.
This aardvark has a surprising history - from the Victorian naturalist who discovered it to the taxidermist who deemed it his finest creation. But for Wilson, the entrance of the aardvark sets off a chain of events that threaten to ruin his entire career.
Constantly surprising, brilliantly comic and piquantly provocative, Enter the Aardvark is a tale for our times, a biting satire with a tender underbelly.
'It's a long time since I have enjoyed a novel so much. Fresh, witty and smart it also has a heart. What more could you want?' KATE ATKINSON
'Enter the Aardvark sizzles with uproarious fun, from its snout to the sting in its tale.' INDEPENDENT
'The perfect tonic for testing times...deliciously astute, fresh and terminally funny' GUARDIAN
'Spry, slim, clever...the inventiveness is impressive and the story has heart' THE SUNDAY TIMES
'What begins as a topical takedown of the American political system deepens into a hugely enjoyable romp through history.' OBSERVER
'Sharp, inventive and very funny, it's an entertainingly bizarre political satire.' TATLER
'Old, dead creature brings down flash, vain senator... Out in front as the most fizzing and amusing novel of the year.' STRONG WORDS magazine
'A blisteringly innovative and outrageous novel.' NY OBSERVER
'Inventive and darkly funny...as Anthony connects characters from today with those from 19th-century England, she offers an original and unsettling lens through which to view male power as it has evolved over time.' TIME
'Enter Jessica Anthony. With her highly inventive, ever attentive, and morally serious (as all great comedy must be) Enter the Aardvark, she estranges all over again our deplorable political moment, and thereby helps make it bearable.' JOSHUA FERRIS, author of THEN WE CAME TO THE END
'Mischievously zoological and darkly satirical - a brilliant novel' JOHN IRONMONGER, author of NOT FORGETTING THE WHALE
'A feverish, rollicking beast of a book. Totally assured, completely unpredictable, Jessica Anthony has created a true original.' SIMON WROE, author of CHOP CHOP and HERE COMES TROUBLE
'The structure doesn't so much intrigue as ensnare you, weaving its cat's cradle of a plot as you lie there, strapped to a table.' LA TIMES
'A wild ride and might just be the perfect antidote to the wild ride we're in in real life' ELECTRIC LIT
'Weird, wonderful, and very much of the moment, Enter the Aardvark is a landmark political novel of the Trump era...With heart and humor, Anthony expertly skewers our current political climate.' ESQUIRE
'This book is batshit insane and I love it.' LIT-HUB
© Jessica Anthony 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2021
About the Author :
Jessica Anthony is the author of The Convalescent, Chopsticks, and Enter the Aardvark. Anthony’s novels have been published in over a dozen countries, and are featured in Time, Newsweek, Esquire, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times Book Review as an Editors’ Choice. She is the recipient of the Creative Capital Award in Literature and has been awarded fellowships from the Bogliasco Foundation and the Bridge Guard Foundation. She lives in Maine, USA.
Review :
If you are anything like me, you will end up loving the actual aardvark...and relish the world of taxidermy that Anthony brings to life. Enter the Aardvark sizzles with uproarious fun, from its snout to the sting in its tale.
[An] ingenious political satire…The perfect tonic for testing times…deliciously astute, fresh and terminally funny.
Spry, slim, clever...the inventiveness is impressive and the story has heart.
What begins as a topical takedown of the American political system deepens into a hugely enjoyable romp through history...Madcap and satirical without ever being flippant, Anthony’s novel is totally unrealistic yet completely truthful.
Fresh, astute and mouthwateringly sharp, this is a rare thing; a political satire that tugs on the heartstrings in unconventional ways.
It’s a long time since I have enjoyed a novel so much. Fresh, witty and smart it also has a heart. What more could you want? And who would have thought that you could become emotionally attached to a stuffed aardvark?
‘Part 21st-century political satire, part unexpectedly affecting 19th-century love story…It’s every bit as strange as it sounds, and yet somehow it works: there’s a pleasing symmetry to the parallel plots, and Anthony’s writing is evocative enough to snare the imagination.'
‘Sometimes, a paragraph near the start of a novel is so perfect and funny that you read it over and over, laugh every time, and know you’re in for a treat…I'm loving it. Completely insane but utterly hilarious’
Enter Jessica Anthony. With her highly inventive, ever attentive, and morally serious (as all great comedy must be) Enter the Aardvark, she estranges all over again our deplorable political moment, and thereby helps make it bearable.
‘Jessica Anthony’s Enter the Aardvark was exactly the smart, funny and poignant pick-me-up that I needed…Anthony entwines her two narrative threads with seamless precision...Riotously entertaining’
