Thread Ripper

Author: Smith, Amalie

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

Published on 1 June 2022 by Lolli Editions in the United Kingdom.

An artist in her thirties weaves and unravels connections between the loom and the computer, DNA and technology, dreams and decisionsThread Ripper is a multi-strand novel about weaving, women, and programming. In Copenhagen, a tapestry-weaver embarks on her first big commission, a digitally woven tapestry. As she works, she draws illuminating connections between all the stuff that life is made from - DNA, plant tissue, algorithms, text and textile - and that which disrupts it - radiation, pests, entropy and doubt. In another strand, we follow Ada Lovelace, the 1830s mathematician and pioneer of computer programming. And Penelope, the faithful wife of Odysseus, who wove and unpicked a shroud to put off her 108 suitors.

Contemplative yet clear-sighted, Amalie Smith's hybrid textile of a novel bares the aching but crucial interwovenness of art and life.