Half Life: A Novel

“Ingenious, sensual, gleeful. . . . It demands of its readers only imagination, and rewards them with hilarity, terror, and marvels.”—Jonathan Lethem, author of Motherless Brooklyn

Nora and Blanche are cojoined twins. Nora, the dominant twin, thirsts for love and adventure, while Blanche has been asleep for nearly 30 years. Determined to shed herself of her her sister’s dead weight, Nora leaves for London in search of the mysterious Unity Foundation, which promises to make two one.

But once Nora arrives in London, the past begins to surface, forcing her into a most reluctant voyage into memory—a search for meaning and understanding, that will push Nora to the brink of insanity. Grotesque, funny, and dazzlingly told, Shelley Jackson’s first novel is an imaginative and touching portrait of two lives in a cleft world yearning for wholeness.

Nora and Blanche are conjoined twins. Nora is strong, funny, and deeply independent, thirsting for love and adventure. Blanche, by contrast, has been asleep for twenty years. Sick of carrying her sister's dead weight, Nora wants her other half gone for good—a desire that takes her from San Francisco to London in search of the Unity Foundation, a mysterious organization that promises to make two one. But once in England, Nora's past begins to surface in surprising and disturbing ways, pushing her to the brink of insanity and forcing her to question her own—and Blanche's—grip on the truth.

“Haunting, meditative.” - Kirkus Reviews

“Ingenious, sensual, gleeful. . . . It demands of its readers only imagination, and rewards them with hilarity, terror, and marvels.” - Jonathan Lethem

“I loved this book. . . . Half Life is twisty and vampy and campy, grotesque, picaresque, droll, and dazzling.” - Kelly Link, author of Magic for Beginners

“A clever and surprisingly moving exploration of identity and connectedness, Half Life should broaden Jackson’s readership.” - Booklist

“A Molotov cocktail of highly combustible intelligence. . . truly glorious.” - New York Times Book Review

“Jackson’s style is as offbeat as her storytelling... with hilariously dark humor . . . intriguingly odd.” - USA Today

“[E]ven in its most philosophical moments, HALF LIFE maintains an almost giddy flair for fabulism and macabre detail. - Time Out New York

“[A] shimmering, dazzling, delight, filled with ... humor and poignancy that should endear her to thousands of new readers. - Washington Post

“Jackson’s prose is nothing short of dazzling.” - Publishers Weekly

“[A] big, ambitious, deeply strange and strangely riveting novel . . . Maestra!” - Newsday