Awards
Finalist for the Whitbread Award.
Synopses & Reviews
Now a Major Motion Picture Starring Scarlett Johansson "A wonderful book - painful, lyrical, frightening, brilliant . . . I couldn't put it down." -- Kate Atkinson "The fantastic is so nicely played against the day-to-day that one feels the strangeness of both . . . A remarkable novel." - The New York Times "Alternately gorgeous and terrifying, lyrical and brutal, Under the Skin compels and teases . . . Satisfying and successful." —Newsday In this haunting, entrancing novel, Michel Faber introduces us to Isserley, a female driver who cruises the Scottish Highlands picking up hitchhikers. Scarred and awkward, yet strangely erotic and threatening, she listens to her hitchhikers as they open up to her, revealing clues about who might miss them if they should disappear. Under the Skin takes us on a heart-thumping ride through dangerous territory—our own moral instincts and the boundaries of compassion.
Review
"Original and unsettling...an Animal Farm for the new century." The Wall Street Journal
Review
"Eerie and touching in equal parts....Sits squarely within the tradition of the British satire, and one is bound to recall the features of Swift...and H. G. Wells." San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"Alternately gorgeous and terrifying, lyrical and brutal, Under the Skin compels and teases." Newsday
Review
"A fantastic first novel, a great first novel, so intelligently and beautifully made a book as to deserve a wide readership." The Boston Book Review
Review
"A compelling, unusual tale." The Washington Post Book World
Review
"One of the most innovative, fresh, compelling novels to hit print in the last few years....Faber artfully explores topics ranging from agribusiness to industrial outcast to our own inherently predatory nature." Steven Fidel, Powells.com (read the entire Powells.com review here)
Synopsis
A "fascinating psychological thriller" (The Baltimore Sun), this entrancing novel introduces Isserley, a female driver who picks up male hitchhikers with big muscles. She, herself, is tiny -- like a kid peering up over the top of the steering wheel. Scarred and awkward, yet strangely erotic and threatening, Isserley listens to the hitchhikers as they open up to her and reveal clues about who might miss them if they should disappear. At once humane and horrifying, a heart-thumping ride through the dangerous territory where moral instincts and the boundaries of compassion collide, this is a surreal representation of contemporary society run amok.
Synopsis
In this haunting, entrancing novel, Michel Faber introduces us to Isserley, a female driver who cruises the Scottish Highlands picking up hitchhikers. Scarred and awkward, yet strangely erotic and threatening, she listens to her hitchhikers as they open up to her, revealing clues about who might miss them if they should disappear. Under the Skin takes us on a heart-thumping ride through dangerous territory--our own moral instincts and the boundaries of compassion.
Synopsis
Hailed as "original and unsettling, an Animal Farm for the new century" (The Wall Street Journal), this first novel lingers long after the last page has been turned.
Described as a "fascinating psychological thriller" (The Baltimore Sun), this entrancing novel introduces Isserley, a female driver who picks up hitchhikers with big muscles. She, herself, is tiny-like a kid peering up over the steering wheel. Scarred and awkward, yet strangely erotic and threatening, she listens to her hitchhikers as they open up to her, revealing clues about who might miss them if they should disappear. At once humane and horrifying, Under the Skin takes us on a heart-thumping ride through dangerous territory-our own moral instincts and the boundaries of compassion. A grotesque and comical allegory, a surreal representation of contemporary society run amok, Under the Skin has been internationally received as the arrival of an exciting talent, rich and assured.
About the Author
Born in the Netherlands in 1960, Michel Faber emigrated to Australia at the age of seven, and moved to Ross-Shire, Scotland, eight years ago. A graduate of Melbourne University, he has worked as a nurse, a pickle-packer, a cleaner, and a guinea pig for medical research.