The Puppet

by Reif Larsen

When I read The Collected Works of T.S. Spivet, I knew that some day I wanted to work with Reif Larsen. In his amazing first novel, Reif was able to weave together the inner world of his narrator’s thoughts, emotions, even drawings and diagrams, to tell a story full of heart and exploration of the self. And now: lucky us! One Story is happy to present a new piece by this talented writer. "The Puppet" takes readers in a new direction, following a lost young man, Valise, out of Oklahoma to the battle-worn streets of Sarajevo. Valise is driven by his father’s death, but it wouldn’t be a Reif Larsen story if there weren’t other elements attached to these deep-seated emotions. He also explores the work of Louis de Broglie, the Copenhagen Divide, and the shaking internal sense we call déjà-vu, all with characters, such as Brusa, the indomitable foreign reporter, and Thorgen, the war-time puppeteer, that remain long after you put the story down. To find out more about how Reif wrote “The Puppet,” read his Q&A with us. In the meantime enjoy this story by one of our most talented new voices. I for one can’t wait to see what Reif Larsen writes next.

—Hannah Tinti

35 pages, Unbound

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Reif Larsen’s first novel, The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet, was a New York Times bestseller and is currently translated into twenty-seven languages. The novel was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the James Tait Black memorial Prize and was adapted into a movie by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie). Larsen's essays and fiction have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Tin House, One Story, The Millions, Virginia Quarterly Review, Travel + Leisure, Asymptote Journal and The Believer. Larsen is currently serving as the International Writer-in-Residence at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. His second novel, I Am Radar, was published in 2015 by Penguin Press in the US and Harvill Secker in the UK.