Alaska is the mythic paradise in DIVE, Lisa Teasley’s debut novel, an exquisitely observed tale of a love affair between two lost souls: a construction worker and an animator. They meet up in Anchorage— both have traveled there seeking escape from violent pasts— fall instantly in love and bond over a shared enthusiasm for extreme sports, very much including sex. But what makes the book so compelling isn’t its eroticism, its hint of noir intrigue or the way its oddball side players, including a retired porn star, so doggedly defy our preconceptions, but the lightly worn profundity of the author’s vision, the humanity of her characters and the delicate strands of fate with which she binds them together.”
—Aaron Gell, W magazine

“The superimposing of an earnestly tender love story onto an Elmore Leonard-ish tableau of killers, drifters and even a porn star—turns out to be an affecting first novel, thanks to Lisa Teasley’s avoidance of sentimentality and her thoughtfully spiky characterizations. Ruby Falls, an animator for a children’s television series, leaves Los Angeles for a mind-cleansing trip to Alaska after witnessing the aftermath of a gruesome murder. There she meets Ray Rose, a Florida construction worker trying to come to terms with his own (justifiably) homicidal past. After quickly confirming their sexual compatibility, Ruby and Ray sanguinely resolve to settle down in Florida; their journey toward domestic bliss is progressing when a near-fatal accident breaks their rhythm…Teasley can write with a poet’s economy.”
—Jeff Turrentine, New York Times Book Review

“Lisa Teasley writes like the unchained lovechild of Norman Mailer and Nina Simone. Dive is a sexy, compelling ride through the deeper wilds of the human psyche. This book takes risks other authors would balk at—and leaves the reader gasping for more. An arresting, unsettling, and terrifically written debut.”
 —Jerry Stahl

Listen to Lisa Teasley discuss DIVE with Kitty Felde on KPCC’s “Talk of the City.”

Dive, hardcover, was released in March 2004; the paperback was released in August 2006. Published by Bloomsbury, and available at your local independent bookstore, Powells.com, Amazon, and Barnes&Noble.com.