Vladimir

Female ageing and desire, sexual agency in the era of #MeToo, the relationship between morality and art, even a nod to Stephen King's Misery: it's all here in this sexy stealthy slippery debut, one of the year's hottest reads. ― The Daily Mail

This deliciously dark American debut . . . A boisterous campus novel with an outrageously acerbic narrator, it delivers uncomfortable truths ― The Guardian

This impressive debut . . . A twisty and thought-provoking tale ― The Sunday Times/The Times

Haunted by the spirit of Nabokov, this sly satire challenges today’s “insistence on morality in art” ― The Daily Telegraph

This astonishing debut is anything but another #MeToo morality tale . . . I was utterly hooked . . . [by] this twisty, sexy, shocking treat of a novel . . . How on earth will Julia May Jonas better this? ― The Sunday Times

Darkly comic . . . Jonas’s novel is full of sly satire . . . The first-person narrative is beautifully rich, and the novel is playing enjoyable games with the ghost of Nabokov throughout ― The Daily Telegraph

Vladimir is peppered with subversions . . . Jonas artfully fashions a protagonist mired in contradictions . . . [An] intelligent knowing portrayal of a woman's midlife crisis ― The Observer

This slippery debut challenges to often electrifying effect the moral pieties concerning women, sex and power that have sprung up in the wake of #MeToo . . . A welcome addition to the growing number of #MeToo novels, many of which feel in comparison a little tired ― The Daily Mail

It is delicious to spend so much time with a narrator who wants the way this one does, who wants so badly she’ll send her life up in flames. ― Vanity Fair

Jonas's assured debut may be operating in Nabokov's long shadow, but it's difficult not to gobble up the unadorned, plot-driven prose, with its hints of kidnap and bondage, at a greedy pace ― The Literary Review

[An] engaging debut . . . [Jonas’s] storylines are full of nuance, loopholes, granular details that refuse easy definition ― The Irish Times

'Vladimir contains far too many uncomfortable truths to be merely fun, but . . . it is, by turns, cathartic, devious and terrifically entertaining.’ ― New York Times

'Vladimir goes into such outrageous territory that my jaw literally dropped at moments while I was reading it. There’s a rare blend here of depth of character, mesmerizing prose, and fast-paced action.’ ― Boston Globe

In darkly funny terms, Jonas creates a portrait of a narcissist reckoning with her age and vanity, but also the limits of her power. ― Time

‘What is more delicious than the despicable narrator? . . . Jonas, with a potent, pumping voice, has drawn a character so powerfully candid that when she does things that are malicious, dangerous and, yes, predatory, we only want her to do them again.’ ― Los Angeles Times

If Netflix’s The Chair, Lisa Taddeo’s bestseller Three Women, and the most compelling passages of Ottessa Moshfegh’s Death in Her Hands had a love child (just go with me here), it would be this fiction debut . . . Vladimir leaves the reader with more questions than answers―about sex, and sexual politics―in the most delicious way. ― Entertainment Weekly

Funny, wise and instantly engaging, Vladimir is how I like my thrill rides: brainy and sexy. -- Maria Semple, author of Where'd You Go Bernadette

Vladimir is a thrilling debut – smart, sharp, and über provocative. I devoured it with fascination and awe. -- Lily King, author of Writers & Lovers

A whip smart and ferociously clever tale of swirling allegiances, literary rivalries, and romantic tripwires detonating hidden mines – Vladimir is an extraordinary debut. -- Adrienne Brodeur, author of Wild Game

Droll, dry, and pacy, Vladimir is deliciously unsparing and enormous fun. -- Lionel Shriver, author of We Need To Talk About Kevin

Brilliant and very funny -- Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Empire of Pain