Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies

Author(s): Maddie Mortimer

Novel | Medicine

Today I might trace the rungs of her larynx or tap at her trachea like the bones of a xylophone or cook up or undo some great horrors of my own because here is the thing about bodies: they are impossibly easy to prowl, without anyone suspecting a thing.


Until, of course, they do. And then, of course, they aren't.


When Lia finds out that her cancer is back, she tries to keep the landscapes of her past, her present and her body separate.


But bodies are porous, unpredictable places. Lia's story is told, in part, by the very thing that is killing her; a gleeful and malevolent voice that shape-shifts through her systems, learning her life from the inside-out.


We come to understand the people that have shaped her: a daughter, navigating the horrors of the playground; a husband, struggling to maintain a sense of self as everything falls apart; a regretful mother making up for lost time; and a troubled former lover who belongs to Lia's past, but won't stay there.


In turn they each take up their place in the changing landscape of Lia's body, at the centre of which dances our restless narrator and a boy nicknamed 'Red'; the chemotherapy that is Lia's last hope.


Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies is a story of coming-of-age at the end of a life - a heartbreaking tale of desire, love and forgiveness, a wild and fierce journey through one woman's body.

Under attack from within, Lia tries to keep the landscapes of her past, her present and her body separate. But time and bodies are porous, and unpredictable. Something gleeful and malign is moving in Lia’s body. It shape-shifts down the banks of her canals, leaks through her tissue, nooks and nodes. It taps her trachea like the bones of a xylophone. It’s spreading. Lia’s story is told, in part, by the very thing that’s killing her; a malevolent voice that wanders her systems, learning her from the inside-out. The novel moves between her past and her present as we come to understand the people that have shaped her life. In turn, each of these take up their place in the battle raging within Lia’s body, at the centre of which dances the murderous narrator and a boy nicknamed ‘Red’ - the toxic chemo that is Lia’s last hope.


 Maddie Mortimer was born in London in 1996. She received her BA in English Literature from the University of Bristol. Her writing has featured in The Times and her short films have screened at festivals around the world. She is co-writing a TV series currently in development with Various Artists Ltd. In 2019 she completed the Faber Academy Writing a Novel course. Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies is her first novel.


Product Information

Winner 2022 Desmond Elliott Prize

2022 The Booker Prize Longlist

General Fields

  • : 9781529069372
  • : PAN MACMILLAN UK
  • : PAN MACMILLAN UK
  • : 0.3
  • : 01 February 2022
  • : {"length"=>["23.4"], "width"=>["15.3"], "units"=>["Centimeters"]}
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Maddie Mortimer
  • : Paperback
  • : 1
  • : English
  • : 823.92
  • : 448
  • : FA