Pafel Dubois

A Note on This Book

The Mortal Crystalline is the most ambitious novel I have written. It took years to find the voice, longer to find the patience, longest to trust that a slow, observational story about two adults choosing each other could carry the weight I wanted it to carry.

I am not interested in spectacle. I am interested in the moments that change a person — usually quiet, usually private, usually before anyone has noticed they are changing. This book is the closest I have come to writing the room I have been trying to walk readers into for a long time.

It is set in Yorkshire because Yorkshire is a place where weather has a vote. It is set in 1812 because that is the year the world began listening to itself differently. The rest belongs to Lucien and Eliza.

I live and write in New York. I am grateful you are here.