Euphoria

English anthropologist Andrew Bankson has been alone in the field for several years, studying the Kiona river tribe in the Territory of New Guinea. Haunted by the memory of his brothers' deaths and increasingly frustrated and isolated by his research, Bankson is on the verge of suicide when a chance encounter with colleagues, the controversial Nell Stone and her wry and mercurial Australian husband Fen, pulls him back from the brink. Nell and Fen have just fled the bloodthirsty Mumbanyo and, in spite of Nell's poor health, are hungry for a new discovery. When Bankson finds them a new tribe to divert them from leaving Papua New Guinea, the artistic, female-dominated Tam, he ignites an intellectual and romantic firestorm between the three of them that burns out of anyone's control. “A taut, witty, fiercely intelligent tale of competing egos and desires in a landscape of exotic menace—a love triangle in extremis… King is brilliant”  New York Times Book Review"This novel is as concentrated as orchid food, packing as much narrative power and intellectual energy into its 250 pages as novels triple its size."  Marion Winik, Newsday"A great novelist is like an anthropologist, examining what humans do by habit and custom. This is a riveting and provocative novel, absolutely first-rate."  Wingate Packard, The Seattle Times"With her influence on the sexual revolution, Mead was a globe-spanning iconoclast, alarming some and cheering others, becoming finally something of a totem upon which various groups cast their hopes and fears. So it’s refreshing to see the world’s most famous anthropologist brought down to human scale and placed at the center of this svelte new book by Lily King."  Ron Charles, The Washington Post“Atmospheric and sensual, with startling images throughout, Euphoria is an intellectually stimulating tour de force.”  Jane Ciabattari, NPR"Thrilling... intense, seductive, sexual, and intellectual... There are so many exhilarating elements to savor... By the end of Euphoria, this reader sighed with wistful satisfaction, wishing the book would go on. Brava to Lily King."  Joan Frank, San Francisco Chronicle"Meaty and entrancing... a thrilling read that, at its end, does indeed feel like 'the briefest, purest euphoria.'”  Publishers Weekly (starred review)“SThis is a powerful story, at once gritty, sensuous, and captivating.”  Booklist“Euphoria is a masterpiece of dreamy, lyrical, sensuous writing and evocation of a sometimes frighteningly exotic New Guinea. Readers can expect to be enchanted by the setting, inspired by the free-spirited Nell, challenged by the question of respectful participant observation, angered by certain of the characters' actions and teased by the sexual tension.”  Julia Jenkins, Shelf Awareness“From Conrad to Kingsolver, the misdeeds of Westerners have inspired their own literary subgenre, and in King’s insightful, romantic addition, the work of novelist and anthropologist find resonant parallel: In the beauty and cruelty of others, we discover our own.”  Megan O’Grady, Vogue