This month, we’re reading Anna Metcalfe’s brilliantly compelling debut novel, Chrysalis.
She is noticed by Elliott as he trains in the gym. He sees her dedication to building her body and taking up space, and he is drawn to her strength. She is observed by her mother, as she grows from a taciturn, tremulous child into a determined and distant woman, who severs all familial ties. She is watched by her former colleague Susie, who offers her sanctuary and support as she leaves her partner and rebuilds her life, transforming her body and reinventing herself online. Each of these three witnesses desires closeness. Each is left with only the husk of the person they thought they knew, before she became someone else: a woman on a singular and solitary path with the power to inspire and influence her followers, for good and ill.
Chrysalis is a story about solitude and selfhood, about the blurred line between self-care and narcissism. It is about controlling the body and mind, about the place of the individual within society and what it means when someone chooses to leave society behind. It is a strikingly contemporary story about the search for answers and those we trust to give them to us.
If you would like to join BookBar’s BookClub, please click here. They will send you a paperback copy of Chrysalis and the option to join them for a virtual interview with Anna Metcalfe on Tuesday 26th March 2024 at 7pm. An in-person discussion group will be held on Wednesday 3rd April.
Buy your copy from Bookbar here. Happy reading!
