Big Swiss – Jen Beagin

Paperback. Faber & Faber. 2024 (2023). New Condition 

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. Greta can see her dressed top to toe in white, that adorable gap between her two front teeth, her penetrating blue eyes. She’s a including the heads of infants and dogs. Well that’s how Greta imagines seeing her; they haven’t actually ever met in person. Nor has Greta actually ever been to Switzerland. Greta and Big Swiss are not in the same room, or even the same building. Greta is miles away, sitting at a desk in her own house, wearing only headphones, fingerless gloves, a kimono, and legwarmers, transcribing this disembodied voice. 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.