Artifact
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3 Months Free
£5.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Offer ends on 15 July 2026 at 11:59 BST.
Artifact
Narrated by:
Stephanie Ellyne
Buy Now for £13.79
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Narrated by:
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Stephanie Ellyne
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By:
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Arlene Heyman
'A wise, intimate tale that is by turns joyful, sorrowful and explicit' Observer
'The author delves deep into Lottie’s psyche, shying away from nothing, to create a rounded and gripping portrait of a woman on the edge of change’ Daily Mail
Lottie Kristin is independent from the start. Born in the middle of the century to a middle-class family in the very middle of America, Lottie is set apart by her smarts and sensuality. A girl who'd rather carry out dissections on a snowy back porch than join her family for Christmas dinner is a strange and exotic artifact in the town of Sleeping Bay.
But by her early twenties, Lottie finds herself trapped in a marriage gone stale, with a daughter she adores but whose existence jeopardizes her place in the lab and her dream of becoming a scientist. How can a young woman make her way in a world determined to contain her brilliance, her will, and her longing to live?
Bravely and wisely written, Artifact is an intimate and propulsive portrait of a whole woman, a celebration of her refusal to be defined by others’ imaginations, and a meditation on the glorious chaos of biological life.©2020 Arlene Heyman (P)2020 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
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Critic reviews
A wise, intimate tale that is by turns joyful, sorrowful and explicit
Lottie … encapsulates the dichotomy of her life. She’s a smartly realised character – bright yet naïve, determined and single-minded ... Heyman handles her subject lightly, lacing it with humour
The author delves deep into Lottie’s psyche, shying away from nothing, to create a rounded and gripping portrait of a woman on the edge of change
A heroine for our times
Praise for Scary Old Sex: Lusty, tough and life-affirming (Elaine Showalter)
Hits the reader in the psyche, the gut and the groin with the force of a precision-aimed slingshot … Shocking, mesmerising and truthful (Rowan Pelling)
Both funny and eye-wateringly explicit (Joan Bakewell)
Rueful and funny and observant ... Heyman is an enlightened observer across many aspects of life ... These men and women are busily and blissfully humanizing themselves, the kind of bliss that lifts right off the page
A terrific story collection ... Heyman is frank in her descriptions, but never cruel or unfeeling ... a tender, perceptive work
So stylish, earthy and funny (Deborah Moggach)
[An] impressive collection ... Heyman takes on the brutal intimacy of death and aging and provides new ways of seeing and experiencing these stages of life
Heyman’s frank tales ... feel paradoxically taboo on the page, all the more so for their fierce candour
Sensual and sometimes shocking … Heyman writes with such intimacy and precision that she frequently makes you feel like a trespasser (Imogen Lycett-Green)
Bold, hilarious and intelligent ... Heyman is upfront and her characters are richly internal
Delivers a shock of taboo desire that is lusciously sensual (Michèle Roberts)
Though her characters’ flaws, fears and phobias feel all too real, Heyman’s treatment of them is honest, human and kind
Brilliant
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