A stylish, stunningly precise, and suspenseful meditation on adolescent desire, female friendship, and the female body that shimmers with rage, wit, and fierce longing—an audacious, darkly observant, and mordantly funny literary debut for fans of Emma Cline, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Jenny Offill.
"It’s a teen thriller in the vein of the ’90s horror movie The Craft . . . But it’s also a beautiful meditation on meditation, with readings of sacred texts and light Buddhist history, populated with girls who refuse to act the way they’re expected to; who have too much passion, too many feelings and nowhere to put them; who are on the cusp of adulthood, “waking up to the true nature of things,” fragile as they are smart and naïve as they are reckless. . . . This book—frequently hilarious, and thoughtful throughout—also transcends expectations at its end.”
- The New York Times Book Review
“Temple's narrative strategies of deferral invite us into a complex, psychological study of a young woman haunted by her past—and her capacity to hunger for violence and self-destruction. A dark, glittering fable about the terror of desire.”
- Kirkus (starred review)
The Lightness is the Belletrist Book Club Pick for September 2020!
Also reviewed in: The Los Angeles Times; Guernica; The Kenyon Review; Publishers Weekly; Shelf Awareness; EW; The Maine Edge; BookReporter; BookPage; Booklist; Library Journal and more.
And listed as:
One of Vulture’s Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Summer; One of BuzzFeed’s Summer Books You Won’t Be Able to Put Down; One of EW’s Best New Books to Read in June; One of Amazon’s 10 Best Books of June; One of USA Today’s 5 Books Not to Miss; One of The Boston Globe’s Best Books of Summer; One of the Daily Beast’s Best Summer Reads of 2020; One of Marie Claire’s Best Summer Books of 2020; One of the Philadelphia Inquirer’s 10 Big Books for Summer 2020; One of Literary Hub’s Best New Books to Read This Summer; One of Alma’s Favorite Books for Summer 2020; One of Domino’s Best Summer Books 2020; One of the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Best Books of Summer; One of HelloGiggles’ Best New Books of June; One of Bustle’s Most Anticipated Books of June; One of Lit Hub’s Best New Books of June; One of the Wall Street Journal Magazine’s Nine Best New Books to Read This Spring;
One of ELLE’s Most Anticipated Books of Summer; One of Glamour’s Best Books of 2020; One of Literary Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2020; and One of The Millions’ Most Anticipated Books of 2020.
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Early praise for The Lightness:
"Who can resist a novel about a Buddhist Boot Camp for Bad Girls? This debut is funny, whip-smart and transcendently wise about friendship, family, lust and love." - Jenny Offill, New York Times bestselling author of Weather
"A nimble and intelligent coming of age story, distinguished by a setting that offers extraordinary pleasures, and sumptuous prose. The Lightness is part thriller, part fairytale, in the tradition of writers like Emily St. John Mandel and Lydia Millet.” - Kelly Link, award-winning author of Get in Trouble.
“With dark, stylish prose and a group of teenage girls up to no good, The Lightness could be the love child of Donna Tartt and Tana French, but its savage, glittering magic is all Emily Temple’s own. Wrought by myth and mysticism, taut with desire and obsession, this debut looks unflinchingly at the nature of human being— and asks whether such constraints can be transcended. The Lightness is a book with fangs, and it won’t let go of you until the final page.” - Chloe Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists
“Emily Temple’s debut The Lightness grants us a bold, smart, hilarious new voice. She tells a page-turning story that’s also a detective story—psychologically wise and totally wiseassed, all while being both cynical and spiritual. A classic must read!”- Mary Karr, New York Times bestselling author of Lit
“Emily Temple’s sentences are extraordinary: musical, bristling with animal intelligence, feline in their tensed sinuosity, their lack of the usual loyalties, their readiness to pounce. This remarkable novel is made up of equal parts desire and dread; it constantly surprised me, eerily outpacing my expectations. The Lightness is a glorious debut.”- Garth Greenwell, award-winning author of What Belongs to You
“Emily Temple has woven a darkly funny, luminously drawn mystery that hits bullseye after bullseye of language and emotion. The Lightness is a book I didn't know I needed and now can't stop thinking about: swift, surprising, and utterly captivating.” - Téa Obreht, New York Times bestselling author of Inland