'An uplifting work: complex, precise and bracing' Susie Boyt, Financial Times
'A profound book about the intrication of literature and life, about the modest, miraculous ways art helps us to live' Garth Greenwell
In twenty-nine intimate, clever, and funny essays, Claire Messud reflects on her move from Connecticut to Australia, the complex relationship between her modern Canadian mother and a fiercely single French Catholic aunt, as well as a trip to Beirut, where her father once lived while his life was nearing its end. She studies contemporary classics by Kazuo Ishiguro, Teju Cole, Rachel Cusk, and Valeria Luiselli, examines three aspects of Albert Camus and "The Stranger," and guides through her favorite paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Creating a vivid portrait of a life celebrating the power of literature, Messud once again proves to be an 'absolute master of the storytelling' (Rebecca Carroll, Los Angeles Times).
'I can think of few writers capable of such impressive seriousness expressed with such rich talent' Rachel Cusk, Evening Standard
Pages: 336, Publication Year: 08/31, Dimensions: 12.6x12.6cm
