The Terranauts (T. C. Boyle)

BY THE WINNER OF THE JONATHAN SWIFT PRIZE 2017
LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2018

Eight people take part in an ecological experiment in 1990s Arizona. Inspired by real events, The Terranauts places human behaviour under the microscope to spellbinding effect

Linda is desperate to be one of the lucky eight chosen to take part in the world's most ambitious ecological experiment. She knows that she can survive for two years under the glass dome of Ecosphere II, set in the Arizona desert. Competition is fierce between the hopefuls, among them smooth-talking PR man Ramsay, and Dawn, a naïve beauty. Inside the humid microcosm, the terranauts' labours over crops and livestock, their battles with creepy crawlies, their hostilities and sexual dalliances are all observed by tourists who come to gawp, Mission Control's cameras and the watchful eye of the media. As they struggle to control nature, and hunger sets in, the snake in this Eden starts to look unmistakably human.