Albertine Clarke received an MFA in fiction from the University of Florida and studied English Literature at the University of Edinburgh where she won the Lewis Edwards Memorial prize for creative writing. Raised in London, she now lives in Brooklyn, NY.

"Is speculative surrealism a thing? If it's not, I'm making it one to write about why I'm looking forward to The Body Builders...Lonely, but also fantastical. Definitely my kind of niche." --Oliver Scialdone, Literary Hub's "Most Anticipated Books of 2026"

"A hypnotic novel about the separation between mind and body, The BodyBuilders narrates Ada, who, reeling from her parents' divorce after her father decides to get jacked, falls into the orbit of a man named Atticus and sublimates herself within the speculative." --Sam Franzini, Our Culture "Most Anticipated Books of Winter 2026"

"Clarke looks inward into her characters and I desperately want to learn more about them." --Adam Vitcavage, Debutiful "Most Anticipated Debuts of 2026"

"I was enraptured by this book. The Body Builders exhibits Albertine Clarke's remarkable gifts - the boldness and precision of her imagination, the breadth of her ethical and intellectual concerns. She is a fearless writer, and I felt a shiver of admiration as I read every page." --Katie Kitamura, author of AUDITION

"If Philip K. Dick had written The Bell Jar, it may have resembled The Body Builders-at once smooth as android skin and sharp as shards of broken mirror. A stunning and haunting debut." --Camille Bordas, author of THE MATERIAL

"By turns tender and unsettling, The Body Builders is a spare yet profound enquiry into the bonds of family and the limits of the self, and what it means to be connected to other people. Full of stylish and unexpected touches - a debut that marks an important new talent." --Tash Aw, author of THE SOUTH

"An exciting and remarkably controlled debut using a brilliant sci-fi conceit to tell a story about estrangement, selfhood, and love." --Catherine Lacey, author of THE MÖBIUS BOOK

"Clarke's gift for worldbuilding and character creation is arresting from the opening pages. She manages to lead readers into a space in which time, place, and identity blur and shift like the shimmer on an oil slick without ever losing them-an admirable feat." --Kirkus

"An alluring fever dream of a novel...Clarke grounds the bizarre details and vivid imagery in meticulous prose...Readers will find much to dissect in this intriguing story of an existential crisis." --Publishers Weekly

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Pub date: 2026-03-03

Length: 240 pages