Daphne_A Novel

Will Boast’s long-anticipated first novel is an “outright

marvelous debut [that] breathes fresh vigor

into timeless questions of love and risk” (Laura

van den Berg). Born with a rare condition in which she suffers

degrees of paralysis when faced with intense emotion, Daphne

has had few close friends and fewer lovers. Like her mythic

namesake, one touch can freeze her. But when Daphne meets

shy, charming Ollie, her well-honed defenses falter, and she’s

faced with a critical choice: cling to her protective isolation or

risk the recklessness of real intimacy. Set against the backdrop

of a San Francisco flush with money and pulsing with protest,

Daphne is “an amiable exploration of how humans might come

to manage their raucous hearts” (NewYorker.com).