American · b. 1977
Marisha Pessl's debut novel "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" (2006) announced a maximalist talent. The novel follows a professor's daughter through a year at a new school that ends in her teacher's death; the narrative is structured as a syllabus, complete with reading assignments. Pessl's prose is dense with allusion and wit. Her subsequent work has been slower to arrive but equally ambitious.