An endearing, riotous coming-of-age debut from an award-winning translator, about a young PhD translator who tries to map the love plot of her favorite novel onto her life and finds herself flailing for clarity when she gets into an undefined relationship with a fellow literary obsessive.

Astrid is obsessed with the Russian American novelist Sofiya Sova, whose life trajectory serendipitously parallels Astrid's own and whose writing seems to encompass every anxiety that Astrid has ever had. Sofiya Sova isn’t the only Sofiya Astrid is fixated on, though. Astrid has had a longstanding friend-crush on her boyfriend Charlie's ex-girlfriend, who also happens to be Russian and named Sofiya.

In hopes of gaining the purpose she so desperately craves, she begins her PhD with the resolve to live her life off the ethos of Sofiya Sova's novel. But when Charlie breaks up with her, Astrid quickly falls into a new relationship with Elijah, who it turns out is a Sofiya Sova superfan just like her and dated the less famous Sofiya in college.

As Astrid and Elijah connect over their love for their favorite novel as well as their shared obsessive quirks, Astrid soon finds herself transcribing the love plot of Sofiya Sova's novel onto her own life…until Elijah begins to pull away and Astrid is left flailing in a life scaffolded by obsession.

A big-hearted portrait of the anxieties of desire, told with erudite humor and an endearing sensitivity to the millennial neuroses, The Obsessed explores the trials of modern dating, the strange ennui of academia, and the question of how to create a world for yourself within and without the confines of your influences. What we're left with is a striking portrayal of how a willing reader can bring a text to life, and similarly the animating power of a good novel.