Chrysalis

Product Information

We are more surprised when we see a woman refusing to conform to somebody else’s expectations of how they ought to behave. JA: I think that’s the case in all of our lives. We want control over the things we think we can control but if we go too far, it’s not healthy. We start with good intentions. Elliot, a recluse who notices her at the gym, witnesses her physical evolution and becomes her first acolyte. Bella, her mother, worries about the intense effect her daughter’s new way of life is beginning to have on others, and she reflects on their relationship, a close cocoon from which her daughter has broken free. Susie, her ex-colleague and best friend, offers her sanctuary and support as she makes the transition to self-created online phenomenon, posting viral meditation videos that encourage her followers to join her in achieving self-sufficiency by isolating themselves from everyone else in their lives.

Walking to the gym, I felt queasy, worse than if I hadn’t eaten anything. I paced up and down the car park. I took deep breaths and my stomach growled. When I got to reception, there was a new kid on the desk. A subtle, perceptive and highly enjoyable novel which illuminates many of the challenges and absurdities of life as we live it now -- Cathy RentzenbrinkWOW. I just devoured this. What a wonderful, painful, funny novel... It's so beautiful and cruel, and summed up just perfectly by the ending - a flawless final sentence, one of the best I've ever read, it absolutely gave me chills -- Avni Doshi I was alternately intrigued and bemused by the structure of Chrysalis, and then I heard Anna Metcalfe speaking and she stated that the structure of her novel is near identical to Hang Kang’s The Vegetarian . I was a bit disappointed to hear this. Deliciously timely.... Metcalfe is a properly clever writer - she moves deftly between the voices of her narrators with ease, while her prose is assured, unforced, and almost graceful * AnOther Magazine *

An oblique, intimate novel told in lucid, beguiling prose, Chrysalis a story about solitude and selfhood, and about the blurred line between self-care and narcissism. It is about controlling the body and the mind, about the place of the individual within society and what is means when someone choses to leave society behind. It is strikingly contemporary story about the search for answers and those we trust to give them to us. This is such an intriguing, thought-provoking read that made me think a lot about ideas surrounding independence, selfhood, and perception. It's fascinating to view this character only through the lens of others; each of the three sees something different in -- and get something different out of-- their relationships with her. For her part, the woman comes across as unfeeling and aloof, and there is something almost distasteful about her. Of course, we never learn who she really is -- just how she is perceived by others -- and I thought that was such an interesting (and successful) narrative choice by Anna Metcalfe. Chrysalis examines the illusions built into our search for online connection and our idolisation of strangers simply because we feel intimate with them... The resulting tone is one of isolation and introspection, as though humanity were being viewed from afar - evocative of the psychological loneliness that is the extreme end of self-care * Literary Review * This was a very strong debut novel. The success of the novel hinges on the reader engaging with the mysterious aspects of the central character; there’s no plot as such, and we’re told up front about the influencer she becomes, and so the only thing really driving the narrative is the details we’re given gradually about her past and the way she acts. This might sound like a hard sell, but Metcalfe really pulls it off - the characters are believable, their interactions are engaging and you really do find yourself caring about the little moments of intrigue. The central character’s behaviour is compellingly odd, and the sinister undercurrent running through the novel from the start is really effective - leaving you with the sense that, though you can’t entirely identify just what has happened, something dark is going on.This novel explores these and related concerns, as the life of our unnamed narrator intersects with a man she begins a relationship with, her colleague at work, and her mother. They each see different version of her, and want different things from her, in their lives. Chrysalis is a thrilling look at how we spin silk around ourselves by watching the world on our screens.”— The New York Times Book Review In the gym, the main character is physically transforming herself but not with the aim of losing weight or toning Her mother gives us a history of how she was growing up, her personality and the kind of daughter she was. I really enjoyed the mother’s perspective because I loved the mother-daughter theme that was explored.