Middlesex (Paperback, New edition)

Winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Lefty and Desdemona must flee the Turks who are invading their crumbling city in the Ottoman Empire, and decide to head for America.  What this unusual brother and sister do not realise is that a rare genetic mutation is following them.  It secretly travels with them first to Detroit, and then to suburbia, through prohibition and the race riots of 1967.  And in the spring of 1974, Calliope Stephanides, finds herself drawn to a chain-smoking, strawberry-blonde classmate with a gift for acting. The passion that develops between them leads Callie to suspect that she is not like other girls.

Through eight decades — and one unusually awkward adolescence — Jeffrey Eugenides’ long-awaited second novel is a breathtaking vision of the American Dream and a modern fable of crossed bloodlines, immigration, the intricacies of gender, and deep, untidy desire.

Click here to read an extract.

'A brilliant sprawl of a book ... Eugenides combines a rigorous understanding of his sources with a wry and sprightly voice that is entirely original. The result is a masterful dissection and reassembling of the American Dream into a shape you will not quite have seen anywhere before' — Daily Telegraph

'A rich comedy ... this novel repeats the stand-out achievements of The Virgin Suicides: an ability to describe the horrible in a comic voice, an unusual form of narration and an eye for bizarre detail' — Guardian

'Middlesex motors apace, suffused with a richness of characterisation and luxury of detail' — The Times

'Superb ... a comic and at times deeply affecting meditation on gender and identity ... A warm and beautifully written novel that illuminates the part of the human soul that even biology cannot reach' — Sunday Times

' Middlesex is a weird and wonderful novel that will surprise you and surprise you' —Jonathan Franzen

'A heavyweight effort, wide in scope, rich in classical allusion' — Independent on Sunday

'A dynamic, Baroque fable of transformation ... what really sets it apart is its warmth and generosity, its pervading air of historical optimism and inclusive, allusive cleverness. Novels as good as this aren't published very often' — Time Out

'A family saga with a difference … a truly original and compelling novel, by turns sad, funny and moving' — Daily Mail

'Thoroughly enjoyable … exuberantly imaginative and ... never less than superbly readable' —  Sunday Telegraph

'A marvellous, quirky and moving entertainment with the narrative energy of Defoe and the gamesomeness of Sterne ... Jeffrey Eugenides’ new book should be welcomed with great cheers' — Literary Review

'Expansive and radiantly generous ; a colossal act of curiosity, of imagination and of love' —New York Times Book Review

‘ Middlesex is a vibrant and rewarding read, and one that does not suffer in the least for its high ambitions ... Cal is an assured narrator, never neglecting the curious and intimate details of place and person. This is an extravagant and thoroughly absorbing story' — Daily Telegraph