Delphi by Clare Pollard

Delphi by Clare Pollard
UK Publication: July 2022
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: [★★★]

This ARC was provided by Penguin General UK (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

I predict a riot…

Synopsis from Goodreads: Covid-19 has arrived in London, and the entire world quickly succumbs to the surreal, chaotic mundanity of screens, isolation, and the disasters big and small that have plagued recent history. As our unnamed narrator—a classics professor immersed in her studies of ancient prophecies—navigates the tightening grip of lockdown, a marriage in crisis, and a ten-year-old son who seems increasingly unreachable, she becomes obsessed with predicting the future. Shifting her focus from chiromancy (prophecy by palm reading) to zoomancy (prophecy by animal behavior) to oenomancy (prophecy by wine), she fails to notice the future creeping into the heart of her very own home, and when she finally does, the threat has already breached the gates.

Brainy and ominous, imaginative and funny, Delphi is a snapshot and a time capsule—it vividly captures our current moment and places our reality in the context of myth. Clare Pollard has delivered one of our first great pandemic novels, a mesmerizing and richly layered story about how we keep on living in a world that is ever-more uncertain and absurd.

My Thoughts: This is one of those books where I am not entirely how I feel about it. There are parts I loved, parts that didn’t do it for me and an ending that was too melodramatic overall this balances out as a 3 star read.

What I enjoyed – short sharp chapters each starting with a different form of prophesy from the ancient to the modern. The chapter starts with a short explanation of how that form of prophesy works and then the story moves on incorporating the prophecy type into the storyline. I liked seeing the early Covid years from the point of view of an average Jo and exploring different reactions to the pandemic and more importantly to the government and individuals reaction to it.

Who would like this? I would recommend this to those who are ready to relive the Lockdown years as a historical event and who have an interest in seeing how over people (albeit fictional) reacted to the same situation and events we all lived through.

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