Parallel Lines

Parallel Lines by Edward St. Aubyn

From Edward St. Aubyn, the internationally acclaimed and bestselling author of the Patrick Melrose novels, comes Parallel Lines—a brilliant, emotionally resonant story of connection, identity, survival, and the unpredictable intersections of fate.

Set over the course of a transformative year, Parallel Lines follows a cast of unforgettable characters navigating personal crises and profound revelations. Sebastian, reeling from a mental breakdown, begins an intense journey to reconnect with the biological mother who abandoned him. His therapist, Martin, is drawn into the emotional turmoil as he struggles with his adopted daughter’s fragile relationship with her own birth mother—an echo of Sebastian’s pain.

Meanwhile, Olivia, a radio producer documenting natural disasters, finds her personal world unraveling in eerily similar ways. As her best friend Lucy receives a devastating diagnosis, Olivia’s husband Francis throws himself into an ambitious project to rewild the environment—an effort to bring balance to a world on the brink.

As their stories unfold and intertwine, Parallel Lines explores powerful themes of extinction and survival, inheritance and identity, connection and consequence. With razor-sharp wit and philosophical insight, St. Aubyn delivers a novel that is both hilarious and heartbreaking, intellectual and emotionally raw.

A masterful examination of the human spirit, Parallel Lines is a moving literary fiction novel that will resonate with readers who love character-driven stories, psychological complexity, and the moral intricacies of modern life.