Temporary

Synopsis

A young woman has no permanent job, no permanent home, and no permanent place in the world. Instead, she moves from one temporary assignment to another, filling increasingly bizarre roles that range from stand-in for a pirate's crew member to assistant to an assassin, caretaker of an impossibly large wardrobe, and even substitute for the Chairman of the Board. In a society where work has expanded to consume every aspect of life, she searches for something that feels lasting: connection, purpose, and a place to belong.

At once surreal, funny, and profoundly moving, Temporary transforms the anxieties of precarious labour into an unforgettable literary fable. Hilary Leichter blends absurdist humour with emotional precision, creating a dreamlike novel that explores identity, ambition, loneliness, and the strange ways modern work shapes our lives. Inventive, playful, and deeply humane, it is one of the standout literary debuts of the twenty-first century.

About the Author

Hilary Leichter is an American novelist and educator. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, n+1, Conjunctions, and The Cut, among other publications. Temporary, her acclaimed debut novel, was a New York Times Editors' Choice and was shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the Firecracker Award for Fiction. She teaches creative writing at Columbia University.

Publisher

Coffee House Press

Publication Date

March 3, 2020

Format

Paperback

Pages

208

Subjects

Literary Fiction · Absurdist Fiction · Satire · Contemporary Fiction · Magical Realism · Workplace Fiction

ISBN

9781566895668