Seduction Theory (Int’l/Canada Edition)

For fans of Conversations with Friends and Vladimir comes a magnetic, fresh take on marriage and loyalty: when two married professors tiptoe toward infidelity, their transgressions are brought to light in a graduate student’s searing thesis project.

Simone is the star of Edwards University’s creative writing department: renowned Woolf scholar, grief memoirist, and campus sex icon. Her less glamorous and ostensibly devoted husband, Ethan, is a forgotten novelist and lecturer in the same department. But when Ethan and the department administrative assistant Abigail have sex, Simone and Ethan’s faith in their flawless marriage is rattled.

Simone has secrets of her own. While Ethan’s away for the summer, she becomes inordinately close with her advisee, graduate student Roberta “Robbie” Green. In Robbie, Simone finds a new running partner, confidante, and disciple—or so she believes. Behind Simone’s back, Robbie fictionalizes her mentor’s marriage in a breathtakingly invasive MFA thesis. Determined to tell her version of the story, Robbie paints a revealing portrait of Simone, Ethan, Abigail, and even herself, scratching at the very surface of what may—or may not—be the truth.

Innovative, witty, and tender, Seduction Theory exposes the intoxicating nature of power and attraction, masterfully demonstrating how love and betrayal can coexist.

• “Adrian’s clear sighted, blistering prose always leaves me out of breath, nervously laughing and turning the page, excited and a little scared by what she's going to say next. Seduction Theory nails the campus satire with savagery and grace, and it’s clear that Adrian is a major talent."

  Rufi Thorpe, author of The Knockout Queen and Margo's Got Money Troubles

• "Seduction Theory is a deliriously smart, funny, sexy, page-turner in which Emily Adrian upcycles the postmodern love triangle plot into a novel of ideas. Her wayward academics raise provocative questions about truth, desire, power, obsession, and what it really means to live a shared life. There are welcome resonances with novels such as Andrew Martin’s Early Work and Christine Smallwood’s The Life of the Mind, with enough Nabokov in the mix to keep you on your toes to the last page, at which point you’ll likely do what I did: let out a shocked and gleeful scream."

  Justin Taylor, author of Reboot

• "With sparkling wit and striking formal ingenuity, Emily Adrian's Seduction Theory gives vibrant new life to the marriage-in-crisis novel. I was completely hooked from the first page, and couldn't sleep until I finished it."

  Andrew Martin, author of Early Work

• "A ferociously clever, funny and compulsive read. Seduction Theory is an absolute gift of a novel, playing with form and expectation in the most exhilarating ways. It's by far and away my favorite book of the year - and probably next year, too."

  Nathan Filer, author of The Shock of the Fall

• "So emotionally honest, clever, and sexy, I really enjoyed Seduction Theory." 

  Charlotte Mendelson, author of Wife and The Exhibitionist

• “Emily Adrian's Seduction Theory is so classy, so cool and so funny. You'll pick it up and find yourself five hours later putting it down finished. It's completely insightful about midlife and marriage, and propulsive too.”

  Naomi Wood, author of Mrs. Hemingway