Beautyland - A Novel
By Marie-Helene Bertino

A Dakota Johnson x TeaTime Book Club PickA Best Book of the Year:and The New York Times Book Review,and Time,and Elle, and WBEZ ChicagoA Must-Read:and Nylon,and The Boston Globe,and San Francisco Chronicle,and Chicago Review of Books,and Literary Hub,and The Millions,and Kirkus Reviews,and BookRiot,and The Christian Science Monitor,and Our Culture,and The Saturday Evening Post“A monumental accomplishment, a shimmering masterpiece. and -Michael Schaub,and The Boston Globe“A book that I will recommend to people for the rest of my life. and -Dakota Johnson,and BustleFrom the acclaimed author ofand Parakeet, Marie-Helene Bertino'sand Beautylandand is a wise, tender novel about a woman who doesn't feel at home on Earth.At the moment when Voyager 1 is launched into space carrying its famous golden record, a baby of unusual perception is born to a single mother in Philadelphia. Adina Giorno is tiny and jaundiced, but she reaches for warmth and light. As a child, she recognizes that she is different: She possesses knowledge of a faraway planet. The arrival of a fax machine enables her to contact her extraterrestrial relatives, beings who have sent her to report on the oddities of Earthlings.For years, as she moves through the world and makes a life for herself among humans, she dispatches transmissions on the terrors and surprising joys of their existence. Then, at a precarious moment, a beloved friend urges Adina to share her messages with the world. Is there a chance she is not alone?Marie-Helene Bertino'sand Beautylandand is a novel of startling originality about the fragility and resilience of life on our Earth and in our universe. It is a remarkable evocation of the feeling of being in exile at home, and it introduces a gentle, unforgettable alien for our times