The Girl in the Road

It's transfixing to watch Monica Byrne become a major player in sci-fi with her debut novel: so sharp, so focused and so human. Beautifully drawn people in a future that feels so close you can touch it, blended with the lush language and concerns of myth. It builds a bridge from past to future, from East to West. Glorious stuff * Neil Gaiman * A brilliant novel, vivid, intense, and fearless with a kind of savage joy. These journeys - Meena's across the Arabian Sea and Mariama's across Africa - are utterly unforgettable * Kim Stanley Robinson * Sci-fi has long claimed to be the multicultural literature of the future. This is the real thing...Described with verve and conviction...A new sensation, a real achievement * Wall Street Journal * The most inventive tale to come along in years. . . . The writing is often brilliant, as Byrne paints wholly believable pictures of worlds and cultures most Westerners will never know. . . . Engrossing and enjoyable * Kirkus Reviews * Spectacular and intriguing. . . . Enthralling on many levels. . . . The incorporation of evolving views of gender . . . propel this novel into the stratosphere of artistic brilliance * Library Journal, starred review * [The narrative] captures the sheer surface speed and exhilaration of living in the changing contemporary world. . . . A ceaseless storm of matter and energy * Los Angeles Review of Books * Brims with ambition...Inventive... Fearless ...[A] wild, hallucinatory ride * San Francisco Chronicle * Monica Byrne's vision of India and Africa as an ever-changing maelstrom of language and culture, technology and sexuality is utterly captivating...An electrifying debut * Helene Wecker, author of The Golem and the Jinni * Stunning...More than a few surprises await Meena and Mariama and the reader as story lines converge in a surprising, gratifying climax * Booklist *

Monica Byrne studied at Wellesley College and MIT. She's a freelance writer and playwright and lives in Durham, North Carolina. For more information visit monicabyrne.org and @monicabyrne13