Letting the Body Lead

When Jenn Crowell's debut novel, Necessary Madness, was published in 1997, it was an international sensation; more incredible was the fact that the author was a seventeen-year-old high school senior when she wrote it. With reviews and author profiles in The New York Times, Newsweek, and People, and translated into thirteen languages, Necessary Madness signaled this young author's prodigious talents as a novelist.

In her new book, Crowell introduces us to gifted NYU graduate student Isobel Sivulka. Though her academic and personal lives seem perfect, she feels without direction. Making the first rash decision in her life, she heads to Iceland, where a much-revered high school mentor once embarked on her own spiritual path.

In the very welcoming city of Reykjavîk, Isobel eventually discovers herself, bonding with a circle of strong, centered women and embarking on a tumultuous affair with a charming but deeply troubled man. In a culture completely different from her own, this accomplished woman must finally embrace what it means to be young and gifted, while coming to terms with life and love.

A graduate student travels to Iceland on a journey of self-discovery in this moving and evocative novel by the author of the acclaimed "Necessary Madness."

Jenn Crowell is a graduate of Goucher College.