The Adult

Praise for The Adult:A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK"This is the lesbian-awakening coming-of-age campus novel I wish existed when I was a teenager! With sparse, lyrical prose, Fischer infuses mundane college scenes with a uniquely resonant light. Perfect for enjoyers of Donna Tartt and Emma Cline." —Electric Lit"A sharp, curious examination of identity, power, and the various unexpected pathways that lead us to discovering who we are." —The Globe and Mail"Poignant prose. . . . Deftly capturing the awkward loneliness of early adulthood, Bronwyn Fischer’s debut novel The Adult is an affecting queer coming-of-age story. . . . Fischer’s novel truly captures the feeling of loneliness and uncertainty of young, queer adulthood. While Natalie is an "adult' in terms of her age, The Adult shows the complexity and heartbreak that often needs to happen before one can grow up emotionally. A very strong debut." —Winnipeg Free Press"Through Natalie's subtle but vivid narration, Fischer powerfully evokes the all-consuming force of a relationship confined to a private universe. . . . While this brimming tension almost makes The Adult an understated thriller, the novel's quieter intrigue exists in the articulation—or disarticulation—of the awakening of queer desire." —The New York Times"Brilliant, a true original." —Souvankham Thammavongsa, Winner of the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize "All-consuming. The Adult has it all: betrayal, the intensity of inexperienced queer infatuation, and a perceptive and comic voice. A bright and poignant coming-of-age story that will leave you thinking, 'I hope Bronwyn Fischer writes more!'" —Emily Austin, author of Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead"A haunting tale of love, heartbreak, and deceit. In precise, lyrical prose, Bronwyn Fischer captures Natalie's growing pains in all their hilarity, devastation, and piercing tenderness. This is an electric debut." —Antonia Angress, author of Sirens & Muses"Bronwyn Fischer’s The Adult smolders with barely contained longing. Natalie’s voice—restrained, lyric, and precise—transported me back to the exquisite desperation of first love. Fischer’s debut novel is like a visit from your younger self—even as you worry about Natalie, you won’t be able to look away." —Alyssa Songsiridej, author of Little Rabbit, shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize "Bronwyn Fischer's The Adult is a gorgeous daydream of a novel. In her immersive and lyrical prose, Fischer unravels a stunning portrait of a young woman’s queer sexual awakening. A tender and sometimes heartbreaking coming-of-age story, The Adult nevertheless shows us how profoundly we can grow when we move past shame and allow ourselves to be vulnerable to love and desire. I adore this book!" —Jennifer Savran Kelly, author of Endpapers"This novel is that rare thing that combines profound feeling with the cool detachment and sharp insight of deep intelligence. A coming of age story, a school story, a coming out story, a morally dubious love story and a comic tragedy of modern manners, distractions and disastrous miscalculations, The Adult looks at moving to the city, finding love, finding sex, thinking you are older than you are, watching idiosyncratic videos on YouTube while having your heart broken, and getting out of your depth." —Kate Cayley, playwright, poet, and author of How You Were Born, winner of the 2015 Trillium Book Award"[Reading The Adult], I enter a beautiful and beguiling world, in which Fischer's sentences do what the best writing does: alter my way of seeing. The novel offers a deeply embodied sense of being eighteen in a new place, even as the narrator longs simultaneously to step into a new self. The unexpected perils and complexities of her journey are rendered with utmost specificity, offered to the reader with verve, heartbreak and comedy. This is the debut of an utterly original new voice." ―Catherine Bush, author of Blaze Island"Fischer captures teenage uncertainty brilliantly. . . . This insightful novel is alive with vibrant prose, emotional acuity and complex female characters. A meditation on what it means to step into your authentic self—with all the subsequent confusion and pain laid bare." —Kirkus Reviews"Engrossing. . . . Fischer paints Natalie with care, exploring the depths of her spinning, developing mind. Full of heart, this perfectly captures the lonely messiness of youth." —Publishers Weekly"This debut is a powerful, queer coming-of-age story. . . . This gripping novel has the distinct pang of nostalgia mixed with the discomfort of growing up—a bittersweet but delicious experience." —BuzzFeed"Coming-of-age fans will want to find The Adult . . . [A] book you can’t stop reading." —Washington Blade"Insightful. . . . [A] page-turning novel that explores the emotionally revelatory nature of sexual awakenings. This is a surprising engrossing story of innocence, obsession and desire." —Bay Area Reporter"The Adult is a masterful debut. . . . Fischer draws from the deep emotional wells of young adulthood, without resorting to dramatic reveals or exaggerated confrontations. . . . Fischer is a new talent to watch—a young fiction writer with a poet's ears and eyes, whose understanding of queer heads and hearts is already compelling and indispensable." —Xtra Magazine"Fischer perfectly captures that enraptured feeling of first love. . . . A little bit heart-wrenching, this one will be perfect for Sally Rooney fans and sad gay people alike." —The Southern Bookseller Review"Bronwyn Fischer's The Adult is a gorgeous, literary lesbian coming-of-age story. . . . This was an impressive debut, mesmerizing with its prose, and impressive in its storytelling." —She Does the City"[The Adult] will reel you in hook, line and sinker with its deft exploration of identity, love, insecurity, desire and deceit." —Pink News