The Pisces

Lucy has spent nine years on a Sappho dissertation when her life implodes with a dramatic breakup. Bottoming out in Phoenix, she reluctantly moves to Los Angeles for the summer to dog-sit for her sister. The stunning Venice Beach glass house offers little solace from her profound anxiety; neither do the women in her love addiction therapy group, nor her frequent, often disastrous, Tinder dates. Alone on the beach one night, Lucy becomes utterly captivated by an eerily attractive swimmer. This encounter rapidly spirals into an intense, obsessive love affair, but everything Lucy thought she knew about relationships, desire, and reality is upended when she discovers the swimmer's true, fantastical identity: he is a merman. Melissa Broder masterfully blends vivid realism with giddy fantasy, offering a hilarious, frank, and erotically charged exploration of love, lust, and the yearning for meaning in a single, complicated life.