Paul Takes the Form of A Mortal Girl

<p><b>‘One of the most exciting - and one of the most fun - novels of the decade’ - Garth Greenwell, author of <i>What Belongs to You</i></b><br><br>It’s 1993 and Paul Polydoris tends bar at the only gay club in a university town thrumming with politics and partying. He studies queer theory, has a lesbian best friend, makes zines, and is a flâneur with a rich dating life. But Paul’s also got a secret: he’s a shapeshifter. Oscillating wildly from Riot Grrrl to leather cub, Women’s Studies major to trade, Paul transforms his body at will in a series of adventures that take him from Iowa City to Boystown to Provincetown and finally to San Francisco – a journey through the deep queer archives of struggle and pleasure.<br><br>Andrea Lawlor’s debut novel offers a speculative history of early ’90s identity politics during the heyday of ACT UP and Queer Nation. <i>Paul Takes the Form of A Mortal Girl</i> is a riotous, razor-sharp bildungsroman whose hero/ine wends his way through a world gutted by loss, pulsing with music, and opening into an array of intimacy and connections.<br><br><b>Now part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the very best of modern literature.</b><br><br><b>‘Playful, sexy, smart’ - Carmen Maria Machado<br>‘Evocative and urgent . . . and very funny’ – <i>The </i><i>Observer</i><br>‘“90s punk <i>Orlando</i>”. . . a pretty wild ride’ – <i>Dazed & Confused</i><br>‘Sexy, outrageous, completely compulsive’ – Daisy Johnson</b></p>