Enter the Aardvark

‘It’s a long time since I have enjoyed a novel so much. Fresh, witty and smart it also has a heart. What more could you want? And who would have thought that you could become emotionally attached to a stuffed aardvark?’ KATE ATKINSON
Only one thing stands between Alexander Paine Wilson and his destiny… and it has long ears, spoon-like claws and a tubular snout...
Republican congressman Alexander Paine Wilson is determined that nothing will stop him in his campaign for re-election. Not the fact that he is a bachelor, not the fact that his main adversary Nancy Beavers – married, with children – is rising in the polls. Nothing. That is, until one hot day in August, he receives a large parcel via FedEx. Inside is a gigantic taxidermied aardvark.

This aardvark has a surprising history – from the Victorian naturalist who discovered it to the taxidermist who deemed it his finest creation. But for Wilson, the entrance of the aardvark sets off a chain of events that threaten to ruin his entire career.

Constantly surprising, brilliantly comic and piquantly provocative, Enter the Aardvark is a tale for our times, a biting satire with a tender underbelly.

‘Enter Jessica Anthony. With her highly inventive, ever attentive, and morally serious (as all great comedy must be) Enter the Aardvark, she estranges all over again our deplorable political moment, and thereby helps make it bearable.' JOSHUA FERRIS, author of THEN WE CAME TO THE END
‘Mischievously zoological and darkly satirical – a brilliant novel' JOHN IRONMONGER, author of NOT FORGETTING THE WHALE

'I've been waiting a long time for a book like Jessica Anthony's Enter the Aardvark, a book that not only manages to bridge supposedly unbridgeable divides in politics, in time, in geography, in love and sex, but also manages to do so by way of a time-traveling taxidermied aardvark. If that sounds unlikely, well, yes, exactly, that's why I've been waiting for so long for it—this unlikely, hilarious, moving, ingenious book. Enter the Aardvark is an absolute original.' BROCK CLARKE, author of WHO ARE YOU, CALVIN BLEDSOE?

'A feverish, rollicking beast of a book. Totally assured, completely unpredictable, Jessica Anthony has created a true original.' SIMON WROE, author of CHOP CHOP and HERE COMES TROUBLE

'Enter the Aardvark is one wild ride: a condemnation, a haunting, a song of love, a madcap political thriller—and it is absolutely unputdownable.' LAURA VAN DEN BERG, author of THE THIRD HOTEL

'Jessica Anthony is a writer possessed of mind-bending talents.' HEIDI JULAVITS, author of THE FOLDED CLOCK

"Inventive and darkly funny...as Anthony connects characters from today with those from 19th-century England, she offers an original and unsettling lens through which to view male power as it has evolved over time."?TIME

“A wild ride and might just be the perfect antidote to the wild ride we’re in in real life.” – ELECTRIC LIT

"Weird, wonderful, and very much of the moment, Enter the Aardvark is a landmark political novel of the Trump era...With heart and humor, Anthony expertly skewers our current political climate."?ESQUIRE

"This book is batshit insane and I love it. What do a closeted gay Republican congressman who's obsessed with Ronald Reagan have in common with a taxidermist in 19th-century England? Answer: an aardvark. And also much more, but I'll let you discover the rest for yourself."? LIT-HUB

"A blisteringly innovative and outrageous novel...If you're searching for a sharp, looking-glass view into the far end of contemporary politics, look no further. Jessica Anthony's novel has the pacing of a thriller with satirical verve of Nathanael West."?NY OBSERVER

“A wholly original, entertaining, history-infused, and politically engaged novel.” BOOKLIST

“Anthony stitches together stories from repressive Victorian England and venal contemporary American politics in this marvelous, tragic farce. . . . This idiosyncratic satire is full of wonders and warnings.” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“Weirdly compelling and compellingly weird.” — KIRKUS