Christine Smallwood

A witty, intelligent story of an American woman on the edge, by a brilliant new voice in fiction "Christine Smallwood's debut novel is that rare thing: an intellectual page-turner that commands one's attention completely from the first sentence to the final line."--Andrew Martin, author of Early Work and Cool for America As an adjunct professor of English in New York City with no hope of finding a permanent position, Dorothy feels "like a janitor in the temple who continued to sweep because she had nowhere else to be but who had lost her belief in the essential sanctity of the enterprise." No one but her boyfriend knows that she's just had a miscarriage, not even her therapists--Dorothy has two of them. Nor can she bring herself to tell the other women in her life: her friends, her doctor, her mentor, her mother. The freedom not to be a mother is one of the victories of feminism. So why does she feel like a failure? Piercingly intelligent and darkly funny, The Life of the Mind is a novel about endings: of youth, of professional aspiration, of possibility, of the illusion that our minds can ever free us from the tyranny of our bodies. And yet Dorothy's mind is all she has to make sense of a world largely out of her control, one where disaster looms and is already here, where things happen but there is no plot. There is meaning, however, if Dorothy figures out where to look, and as the weeks pass and the bleeding subsides, she finds it in the most unlikely places, from a Las Vegas poolside to a living room karaoke session. In literature--as Dorothy well knows--stories end. But life, as they say, goes on.

A Novel

The Life of the Mind

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Time, NPR, The Atlantic, Electric Lit, Thrillist, LitHub, Kirkus Reviews • A witty, intelligent novel of an American woman on the edge, by a brilliant new voice in fiction—“the glorious love child of Ottessa Moshfegh and Sally Rooney” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) “[A] jewel of a debut . . . abundantly satisfying.”—Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker As an adjunct professor of English in New York City with little hope of finding a permanent position, Dorothy feels “like a janitor in the temple who continued to sweep because she had nowhere else to be but who had lost her belief in the essential sanctity of the enterprise.” No one but her boyfriend knows that she’s just had a miscarriage—not her mother, her best friend, or her therapists (Dorothy has two of them). She wasn’t even sure she wanted to be a mother. So why does Dorothy feel like a failure? The Life of the Mind is a book about endings—of youth, of ambition, of possibility, but also of the meaning that an inquiring mind can find in the mess of daily experience. Mordant and remorselessly wise, this jewel of a debut cuts incisively into life as we live it, and how we think of it.

Fresh, colourful and incredibly delicious, Italian food is arguable one of the most popular cuisines around the globe: who can resist a mouth-watering bowl of simple spaghetti, or an oozing, stone-baked pizza fresh from an authentic pizzeria? Join Christine Smallwood as she explores the vegetarian cuisine of Italy, revealing the tools and techniques of Italian nonnas everywhere and the key ingredients to bring authentic Italian food to your own kitchen. With classic recipes, and little twists on traditional dishes, sink your teeth into the 70 recipes within these pages and explore the vast regional variations from north to south, and the incredible diversity to be found within the rich history of the Italian cuisine. From bite-sized courgette polpettine and bean crostini, to the rich and delicious pasta with pesto trapanese or pizzoccheri – and who could forget aubergine parmigiana or mouth-watering Panzanella – all recipes have been beautifully photographed and brought to life, ready for you to recreate at home.

Italy: The World Vegetarian

Adam Nayman

Ellena Savage

James Butler

Paul Cunningham

Mark Cousins

Peter Baxter

Justin Wolfers

Tod Wodicka

Gareth Evans

Aoko Matsuda

Dan Edwards

Esther Yi

Asa Yoneda

Andrew Chan

Jordan Cronk

Vadim Rizov

Oscar Schwartz

Tomas Hachard

Molly Lukin

Chiara Marchini

Aurelia Guo

Dom Amerena

Monika Kalinauskait¿

Fireflies Issue #3 explores the films of French director Claire Denis and Chinese director Jia Zhangke. The issue discusses, dismantles, reinterprets and creatively plays with their cinema, through responses from critics, filmmakers, novelists, poets and visual artists.

Jia Zhangke

Fireflies #3

Christine Smallwood

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