Euphoria

"Lily King’s fourth novel (after the award-winning Father of the Rain) was inspired by a moment in 1933 when the lives of three young anthropologists — Margaret Mead and her second and third husbands, Reo Fortune and Gregory Bateson — intersected along the Sepik River in New Guinea. Using this as a point of departure, and changing the actual story line drastically, King weaves together a tragic love triangle and an exhilarating description of three rivals working to shape a new social science discipline. Atmospheric and sensual, with startling images throughout, Euphoria is an intellectually stimulating tour de force."