Synopses & Reviews
BACK COVER
"This book might just change your life." -- Independent on Sunday
PFTACJVPRDN?
ARE YOU HAPPY?
Alice Butler has been receiving some very odd messagesall anonymous, all written in code.
Are they from someone at PopCo, the profit-hungry toy company that employs her? From her long-lost father? Or does someone else know her family secret?
Through codes, math, and the sense her grandparents gave her that she could change the world, Alice grows from recluse orphan to burgeoning vigilante, and may even uncover the meaning of the key inscribed on the necklace she has worn since she was ten.
Can we fit author photo and one line bio as such:
Scarlett Thomas is the author of Bright Young Things, Going Out, PopCo, and Our Tragic Universe.
Praise for PopCo.
"Enough code-breaking tips, puzzles and graphs, charts, postscripts and appendixes to satisfy that other mathematician storyteller, Lewis Carroll." The New York Times Book Review
"A sort of Harriet-the-Spy-meets-Douglas-Coupland with a Treasure Island twist." --Daily Candy
-----------------------------ORIGINAL 2005 COPYPFTACJVPRDN?
ARE YOU HAPPY?
Alice Butler has been receiving some pretty odd messages--all anonymous, all written in simple code, all eerily vague but pointed enough to show the sender has been watching her closely.
Are the messages from someone at PopCo-- the slightly sinister, profit-hungry toy company that has herded Alice and its other top creatives out to a secluded Thought Camp? Are they from Alice's long-disappeared, treasure-hunting father? Are they from someone who knows that her cryptanalyst grandfather left her the key to finding that treasure? And then there is quiet Ben, Alice's new love, who might be hiding something. Could it be that all this will lead Alice to a secret even more carefully guarded than her own?
PopCo is the story of a subversively smart girl who grows from recluse orphan to burgeoning vigilante, buttressed by mystery, codes, math, and the sense her grandparents gave her that she could change the world.
Praise for PopCo.
"How many novels can you think of that leave the reader with an intriguing puzzle to solve, plus a cake recipe, plus a crossword and a list of the first thousand prime numbers? Clever, likeable, frothy, zeitgeist-chasing."--Time Out London
"No heroine this year was more beguiling than Alice in Scarlett Thomas's PopCo. This book might just change your life." -- Independent on Sunday
"Thomas restores the novel to its primary purpose: a blueprint for a revolution. It is an outright amazement." --Scotland on Sunday
Scarlett Thomas is the author of BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS and GOING OUT. She writes for the Independent on Sunday and contributes to many other magazines; in 2002 she won an Elle Style Award. She currently lives and teaches in Canterbury, Kent, where she enjoys recreational mathematics, 1960s architecture, and artistic manifestoes of any sort.
Review
"[A]mbitious....Thomas has always been a sharp observer and deft creator of character; it's a pleasure to see those skills employed in the context of a strong plot and stronger point of view. Thought-provoking fiction for the Digital Age." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"[An] extremly ingenious novel....British author Thomas is without question a gifted writer, and many readers will certainly find her new work a mind-blowing experience. Strongly recommended." Library Journal
Review
"Thomas' latest has a chronic case of attention deficit disorder....Although Thomas' premise is clever, her digressions into esoteric topics (Godel, anyone?) are likely to leave readers more exhausted than amused." Booklist
Review
"How many novels can you think of that leave the reader with an intriguing puzzle to solve, plus a cake recipe, plus a crossword and a list of the first thousand prime numbers? Clever, likeable, frothy, zeitgeist-chasing." Time Out London
Review
"No heroine this year was more beguiling than Alice in Scarlett Thomas's PopCo. This book might just change your life." Independent on Sunday (London)
Synopsis
PopCo tells the story of Alice Butler a subversively smart girl in our commercial-soaked world who grows from recluse orphan to burgeoning vigilante, buttressed by mystery, codes, math, and the sense her grandparents gave her that she could change the world.
Alice slight introvert, crossword compositor works at PopCo, a globally successful and slightly sinister toy company. Lured by their CEO to a Thought Camp out on the moors, PopCo's creatives must invent the ultimate product for teenage girls. Meanwhile, Alice receives bizarre, encrypted messages she suspects relate to her grandfather's decoding of a centuries-old manuscript that many including her long-disappeared father believe leads to buried treasure. Its key, she's sure, is engraved on the necklace she's been wearing since she was ten. Using the skills she learned from her grandparents and teaching us aspects of cryptanalysis, Alice discovers the source of these creepy codes. Will this lead her to the mysterious treasure or another, even more carefully guarded secret?
Synopsis
"This book might just change your life." -- Independent on Sunday
PFTACJVPRDN?
ARE YOU HAPPY?
Alice Butler has been receiving some very odd messages—all anonymous, all written in code.
Are they from someone at PopCo, the profit-hungry toy company that employs her? From her long-lost father? Or does someone else know her family secret?
Through codes, math, and the sense her grandparents gave her that she could change the world, Alice grows from recluse orphan to burgeoning vigilante, and may even uncover the meaning of the key inscribed on the necklace she has worn since she was ten.
Scarlett Thomas is the author of Bright Young Things, Going Out, PopCo, and Our Tragic Universe.
Praise for PopCo
"Enough code-breaking tips, puzzles and graphs, charts, postscripts and appendixes to satisfy that other mathematician storyteller, Lewis Carroll." -The New York Times Book Review
"A sort of Harriet-the-Spy-meets-Douglas-Coupland with a Treasure Island twist." --Daily Candy
About the Author
SCARLETT THOMAS is the author of PopCo and The End of Mr. Y. She has been nominated for the Orange Prize and named Writer of the Year by Elle UK, one of the twenty best young writers by the Independent, and one of the Telegraphs 20 best writers under 40.