The intricate, devilishly playful, intellectually inspiring, emotionally involving new novel by the author of What I Loved.

Man Booker Longlist 2014

Readers of Hustvedt's essay collections ... will recognize the writer's long-standing interest in questions of perception, and her searching intellect is also evident here. But as the story of Harry's life coheres ... it's the emotional content that seizes the reader ... As in her previous masterpiece, What I Loved (2003), Hustvedt paints a scathing portrait of the art world, obsessed with money and the latest trend, but superb descriptions of Harry's work - installations expressing her turbulence and neediness - remind us that the beauty and power of art transcend such trivialities ... Blazing indeed: not just with Harry's fury, but with agonizing compassion for all of wounded humanity. Kirkus (starred review) Hustvedt dissects the art world with ironic insight. Footnotes and academic references, a large cast of characters, a wide range of narrative voices, intellectual digressions, and occasional one-liners enrich this novel of the New York art scene. This is a funny, sad, thought-provoking, and touching portrait of a woman who is blazing with postfeminist fury and propelled by artistic audacity. Publishers Weekly

Siri Hustvedt's first novel, THE BLINDFOLD, was published by Sceptre in 1993 and part of it was subsequently made into the film Of Women and Magic, directed by Claude Miller. Since then she has published THE ENCHANTMENT OF LILY DAHL, WHAT I LOVED - a huge international bestseller - , THE SORROWS OF AN AMERICAN and THE SUMMER WITHOUT MEN. She is also the author of READING TO YOU, a poetry collection, and four collections of essays; YONDER, MYSTERIES OF THE RECTANGLE: Essays on Painting, A PLEA FOR EROS and LIVING, THINKING, LOOKING, as well as THE SHAKING WOMAN: A HISTORY OF MY NERVES. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.