In this latest novel from the award-winning author of The Polyglot Lovers, a writer searching for inspiration in Spain goes on a darkly comic, delightfully absurd journey through an underground society.

Awarded a three-month stipend to travel and work, a Swedish writer flies to Madrid, where in a bar she meets a man with an extraordinary story to tell. In exchange for somewhere to sleep and to hide out for a few days, he is willing to tell her the whole astonishing tale. What follows is an account of fantastic proportions and ingredients: the existence of a shadowy Internet TV show with a certain morality clause, a threat to the storyteller’s life, a diabolical nun, and the story of a girl with a missing left thumb. The tale is also the precursor to a meeting between the writer and the infernal miracle worker, Lucia—a meeting that ultimately forces the writer to make a fateful decision about her own inner essence.
 
Carnality is a novel about the universal need for spirituality and truth—not to mention a good story—set in the seemingly unspiritual grimy underbelly of society.

"First published in the Swedish language as Kèottets tid in 2019 by Albert Bonniers Fèorlag, Stockholm, Sweden"

“Astonishing…an adventure through underground society.” —Book Riot, Must-Read 2022 Books in Translation
 
“Fabulously funny, macabre, and as cerebral as it is sensually accessible…one of the most intelligent and skillful novels I’ve read in recent years.” —Aftonbladet
 
“[Wolff] works with such sharp twists that from time to time I forget to breathe.” —Dagens Nyheter
 
“Funny yet profound, hysterical yet thoughtful, intelligent yet humble…an author who is immensely fun to read.” —Sydsvenskan

Praise for The Polyglot Lovers:
 
“Wolff’s prose has a quality of ‘otherness’ entirely in keeping with the surreal atmosphere of the novel. This strange, provocative debut sits well alongside the work of Roxane Gay, Katherine Angel, Maggie Nelson, Zoe Pilger, and Miranda July…a cool, clever, and fierce addition to the canon of modern feminist literature.” —The Guardian
 
“A quiet rapture—unsparing, startling, mesmeric, and told with the soberest of grins.” —Times Literary Supplement
 
“The edifice of male genius is annihilated in this galvanizing novel…Firing on all cylinders from beginning to end, this story pulses with intellect and vitality unmatched by the literary barons it deposes.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)