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Second Place

by Rachel Cusk

Art and disruption in a secluded household

Regular price $16.48 USD
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AlbakiReads Editorial

Art and disruption in a secluded household

A remote coastal home becomes the setting for an encounter between a woman, her family, and a famous artist invited to stay in their guesthouse. The woman’s response to his paintings gives the visit a deeper significance, while his presence unsettles the household during a long, dry summer. Rachel Cusk’s novel brings questions of art and its power into close contact with family life, gendered privilege, and the moral tensions of human relationships. Its central mystery is not only what the artist’s vision might reveal, but how the relationships around him are reshaped by his arrival.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in fiction about art and its place in everyday life.
  • Readers drawn to family relationships and questions of gender and privilege.
  • Readers who enjoy novels set in remote coastal communities.

Themes

Art and its powerFamily and human relationshipsFemale fate and male privilegeMoral questions

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

A haunting fable of art, family, and fate from the author of the Outline trilogy.

A woman invites a famous artist to use her guesthouse in the remote coastal landscape where she lives with her family. Powerfully drawn to his paintings, she believes his vision might penetrate the mystery at the center of her life. But as a long, dry summer sets in, his provocative presence itself becomes an enigma--and disrupts the calm of her secluded household.

Second Place, Rachel Cusk's electrifying new novel, is a study of female fate and male privilege, the geometries of human relationships, and the moral questions that animate our lives. It reminds us of art's capacity to uplift--and to destroy.

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