Join us with Ben Pester and Matt Greene to discuss their latest books The Expansion Project and The Definitions.A dizzying, haunted satire of the late-capitalist workplace in which nothing is quite what it seems, and an elegant and haunting dystopian novel about a group of individuals gathered to relearn how to navigate the world after a mysterious illness strips them of their memories.THE EXPANSION PROJECTTom Crowley, a mid-level employee at Capmeadow Business Park, experiences an unravelling when his eight-year-old child, Hen, goes missing during bring-your-daughter-to-work day. But despite mounting evidence she was never really there, Tom does not fully believe Hen is safe at home and continues to search for her in the maze of corridors that make up his place of work.Meanwhile, the Capmeadow Business Park expansion is in full swing and the park is growing in unpredictable ways with the addition of unexpected buildings, years-long business days, multi-dimensional spaces, cursed farmers’ markets and corridors of the mind. Years pass, and Tom remains convinced his daughter is somewhere in Capmeadow, but has he judged it correctly? Can anything go back to the way it was? Time, space, contracted working hours – nothing can be relied upon in the Capmeadow expansion.THE DEFINITIONSNestled in an idyllic locale beside the sea, The Centre is a place of rehabilitation and rebuilding. Students arrive nameless, their memories and sense of identity wiped by a strange illness.Each day, they attend classes that will help them relearn the right ways to speak and live; they practice the roles they’ll assume once they’ve graduated and returned to society. In their free time, they negotiate a burgeoning social hierarchy and watch old DVDs together; stories of characters whose names they adopt: Maria, Chandler, Chino, Gunther… But as shards of memories – of pets, lovers, errands, and beloved music – begin to threaten the strict curriculum of The Centre, some students start to question the definitions given to them and explore the ways in which they might define themselves.Ben Pester is the author of the short story collection Am I in the Right Place?. The Expansion Project is his first novel.Matt Greene is a novelist and essayist. His first novel, Ostrich, published in 2013, won a Betty Trask Award and was a Daily Telegraph book of the year. His memoir, Jew(ish) was published in 2020. He lives in London with his partner and two sons.
