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A provocative novel about intimacy, love, and consent, following an increasingly obsessive radio host who tests boundaries she didn't know existed
Olive is desperate to get close to Theo-really, really close. She's always struggled to connect with people. And now she's in her thirties, single, and so flustered by relationships that she secretly records her conversations, hoping to decipher social clues and find a way to be less alone.
Then Theo turns up for a shift at the same food pantry where she volunteers. He's a surgeon fascinated by human organs, a former soccer player, and possibly as weird as Olive. For the first time, someone seems to crave and understand her. Every recording Olive makes of Theo is a balm, which just makes her more afraid of losing him. The only solution seems to be to bind him to her forever. Luckily, the gap between Theo's front teeth is just wide enough for something-or someone-to slip inside.
Arresting and immersive, Open Wide explores the boundaries of love and the body, as universal human impulses bleed into the surreal. Jessica Gross is the author of Hysteria (published in August 2020 by Unnamed Press), which Publishers Weekly declared "every bit a page-turner as it is a descent into sexual madness." Hysteria has been optioned for TV development and Open Wide for film development. Gross's nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Lilith, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among other publications. She has taught writing at The New School and Texas Tech University and currently lives in West Texas.
Olive is desperate to get close to Theo-really, really close. She's always struggled to connect with people. And now she's in her thirties, single, and so flustered by relationships that she secretly records her conversations, hoping to decipher social clues and find a way to be less alone.
Then Theo turns up for a shift at the same food pantry where she volunteers. He's a surgeon fascinated by human organs, a former soccer player, and possibly as weird as Olive. For the first time, someone seems to crave and understand her. Every recording Olive makes of Theo is a balm, which just makes her more afraid of losing him. The only solution seems to be to bind him to her forever. Luckily, the gap between Theo's front teeth is just wide enough for something-or someone-to slip inside.
Arresting and immersive, Open Wide explores the boundaries of love and the body, as universal human impulses bleed into the surreal. Jessica Gross is the author of Hysteria (published in August 2020 by Unnamed Press), which Publishers Weekly declared "every bit a page-turner as it is a descent into sexual madness." Hysteria has been optioned for TV development and Open Wide for film development. Gross's nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Lilith, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among other publications. She has taught writing at The New School and Texas Tech University and currently lives in West Texas.