The Jellyfish Problem

Name: The Jellyfish Problem
Price: 65 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9780593955826

Tessa Yang

$65

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S.
07 July 2026

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

A marine biologist makes the discovery of a lifetime when called to rescue the inhabitants of a small Maine island being menaced by a giant, glowing jellyfish in this richly imagined, wholly original debut.

Dr. Jo Ness prefers jellyfish to people. Her best friend, Aldo, was the exception, but he died seven months ago. So she spends her days hidden away at an underfunded aquarium with her specimens and a draft of the jellyfish guide she and Aldo had been working on together. His voice is alive in the notes in the margins, and it's enough. Almost.

Until she receives a call from Nadia, one of the few other humans she's loved but whom she hasn't heard from in years, asking for her help. Nadia tells her a grand tale of a giant jellyfish terrorizing her tiny island off the coast of Maine and sends a grainy video of the creature. Frankly, the footage looks fake, but Jo drops everything to fly across the country to see Nadia again, and to find this supposed sea beast. She couldn't save Aldo, but perhaps she can help Nadia.

But when Jo arrives on Shattering Point, Nadia is nowhere to be found, and the islanders she meets each have something different to say about the creature they've dubbed Clementine . . . a jellyfish who changes all who see it.

At turns an ode to classic sea monster stories and a vibrant tale of human connection, The Jellyfish Problem is an unforgettable debut that announces a new talent.

By: Tessa Yang
Imprint: Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S.
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 228mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 564g
ISBN: 9780593955826
ISBN 10: 059395582X
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 07 July 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Tessa Yang is the author of the short story collection The Runaway Restaurant. Her work has been published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, The Cincinnati Review, Joyland, Foglifter, and elsewhere. She has an MFA from Indiana University and currently lives in Upstate New York. This is her first novel.

Reviews for The Jellyfish Problem

“Tessa Yang’s The Jellyfish Problem is an utterly original debut. It’s a gripping sea monster mystery, yet beneath the surface lies not only a terrifying jellyfish but a meditation on grief, community, and friendship.”—Carley Fortune, #1 New York Times bestselling author of One Golden Summer “Tessa Yang’s prose is like a friend in your ear: laugh out loud funny one minute and deeply vulnerable the next. Her debut novel, The Jellyfish Problem, deftly combines elements of sea creature horror, romance, and island mystery into a moving story about lost friendship and a love of the ocean. You will drink this right down and want another.”—Yume Kitasei, author of Saltcrop