ABOUT
THE BOOK

2020 Longlist

Pearl’s job is to make people happy. Every day she provides customers with personalised recommendations for greater contentment. She’s good at her job, her office manager tells her, successful. But how does one measure an emotion?

Meanwhile, there’s Pearl’s teenage son, Rhett. A sensitive kid who has forged an unconventional path through adolescence, Rhett seems to find greater contentment in being unhappy.

Told from an alternating cast of endearing characters from within Pearl and Rhett’s world, Tell the Machine Goodnight delivers a smartly moving and entertaining story about relationships and the ways that they can most surprise and define us. With warmth, humour, and a clever touch, Williams taps into our collective unease about the modern world and allows us see it a little more clearly.

About the Author

Katie Williams is the author of the young adult novels Absent and The Space Between Trees. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Best American Fantasy, American Short Fiction, Prairie Schooner, Subtropics, and elsewhere. She teaches writing at Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

Librarian’s Comments

Sci Fi with a deeply human connection. Pikes Peak Library District, USA