Big Swiss

This offbeat novel combines the heart and wit of Sorrow and Bliss with the joy and touch of surrealism in Schitts Creek. It is the funniest book you will read in 2024

Greta liked knowing people's secrets. That wasn't a problem. Until she met Big Swiss.

Big Swiss. That's Greta's nickname for her - she is tall, and she is from Switzerland. Well that's how Greta imagines her; they haven't actually met in person. Nor has Greta actually ever been to Switzerland.

What Greta doesn't know is that she's about to bump into Big Swiss in the local dog park. A new - and not entirely honest - relationship is going to be born.

A relationship that will transform both of their lives . . .

Review

Jen Beagin writes with a zany, overflowing energy, her enthusiasm in stark contrast to the halting, static nature of her protagonist in Big Swiss. [Greta] may be privy to the innermost desires of the client-whom she nicknames Big Swiss-but that doesn't make her more sure-footed when it comes to affairs of the heart. Big Swiss is a comic novel, but it is one with a very tender core. Already in development as a series set to star Jodie Comer, you are sure to hear more about this one ― Vogue, 'Best Books of 2023'

'The word-of-mouth, cult read of the summer, Big Swiss is a startlingly unique novel. . . Smart and unusual, this is modern romance of the highest and most imaginative order.' ― Harper's Bazaar

'Hilarious and consistently surprising about trauma, sex and friendship, I took it with me on a solo holiday and finished it before leaving the house on the first day.' -- Megan Nolan ― Observer

The voice is sharp, the plot is compelling, the jokes are funny and sometimes startling, as the very best comedy is; it's easy to forgive the odd moments when two elements clash. . . Every page is packed with good jokes, keen observations and idiosyncratically wonderful prose. . . It made my brain do interesting, uncomfortable things and left me questioning my beliefs about attraction, grief, how recovery works, and a dozen other fundamental things. ― Guardian

Greta is a hot mess in the grand tradition that will be familiar to fans of cult television shows about reckless women with traumatic pasts such as Fleabag, I May Destroy You and anything starring Daisy May Cooper. . . a darkly off-kilter rom-com, Beagin is one to watch. ― The Times

Big Swiss is a dark party; a hilarious romp through new age pop psychology, romantic obsession, sapphic acrobatics, dogs, and the desire to end it all. Beagin's voice is an engine all its own, and I delighted in this cynical, sexy, hopeless, hopeful, Hudson Valley jubilee. Come for the bees, stay for the donkeys! -- MELISSA BRODER, author of Milk Fed

A bold, brash, often outlandish novel. . . The book is full of such offbeat, accurate descriptions. There's a pinpoint passage on the varying moods of the menstrual cycle that deserves its own award. In short, Big Swiss is a modern, funny whirlwind of a novel about a traumatised transcriber who ends up setting her own record straight. ― Irish Times

In all her fiction Beagin likes to use class not just as a theme, but as a literary device, one that the rich can't easily co-opt. . . Greta and Flavia say they aren't wounded, that they don't care about getting to the bottom of things, and yet - tellingly - they each vie to bottom whenever they make love. They are betrayed, as we all are, by their desires. Lube is also a salve. ― New York Times

This book is such a tonic, it should be available on prescription. . . Big Swiss is bold, sexy and inventive and boasts an unforgettable cast characters. All hail the genius of Jen Beagin. ― The Bookseller, 'Book of the Month'

This offbeat novel is sharply, shockingly funny. . . Deceit, passion, violence, offbeat humour, and twisted power games between two women? No wonder Killing Eve star Jodie Comer is set to star as Big Swiss in the upcoming HBO adaptation, after the channel won a 14-way bidding war for the rights. If the drama can retain Beagin's uncompromising observations, like a razor-wire-edged Nora Ephron, and her daring suggestion that we might find happiness through, not despite, our darkness, Comer will be onto another hit. ― Sunday Telegraph

This insightful novel reads like a rejoinder to the sway of plots that employ trauma to absolve their characters' actions. . . Beagin is masterful at offhand humour. . . She has a caricaturist's knack of summing up her characters. . . a liberating and surprisingly life-affirming read. ― Spectator

About the Author

Big Swiss is Jen's third novel. Pretend I'm Dead (winner of the prestigious Whiting Award) and Vacuum in the Dark (shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize) were published by Scribner US and Oneworld in the UK to wide critical acclaim. Jen Beagin holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of California, Irvine. She lives in New York.