The Shadow of the Object by Chloe Aridjis – Booker Prize Finalist 2026

Some books whisper. This one flickers, like light thrown from an old lantern onto a darkened wall.

The Shadow of the Object is a magnificent work of shadow-play and a meditation on desire, metamorphosis, and mortality. Chloe Aridjis, whose fascination with poetry, magic shows, and the literature of the fantastic runs deep, has crafted a novel that drifts between Mexico and London, between contemporary longing and the earliest technologies of illusion.

Here’s where it begins. Flora is visiting home in Mexico when the family dog bites her hand, landing her in the hospital for a series of surgeries under anaesthesia. There she meets Wilhelmina, an elderly German woman with pneumonia who collects pre-cinema toys and instruments. Between the two of them, a friendship blooms in the hospital corridors, all dream-like conversations and a magic lantern show that leaves Flora spellbound.

Then things take an unexpected turn. Entrusted with an important mission, Flora returns to London and her job polishing silver at a jewelery shop, striking up a strange kinship with Wilhelmina’s son, Max. As she dips in and out of her own imagination, she comes to sense that it isn’t only the lantern doing the projecting. Reality itself begins to shift.

Part of the acclaimed Semiotext(e) / Native Agents series, this trade paperback is a slow, luminous read. The kind of book you’ll want to linger over on a grey, salt-aired afternoon.

Come browse. We’ve got a spot on the shelf saved just for this one, and we think you’ll be glad to make its acquaintance.

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