• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2016 November #1
  *Starred Review* In the wake of a divorce, a writer moves with her two young boys to London, where she begins the task of rebuilding an old house, along with her sense of self. We first met Cusk's protagonist at the beginning of her divorce process in the critically acclaimed Outline (2015), and as we come across her now, she is in transition, just beginning to navigate her new world, post-marriage. As in the first novel, our sense of her comes almost entirely through her meetings with others—old acquaintances, friends and family, business connections, and even verbally abusive neighbors. As she relates these encounters in detail, we gain a growing understanding of her feelings of loneliness and powerlessness in her mission to redefine life on her own terms. Through conversations about fate and morality, childhood traumas and joys, and failed and successful relationships, we observe her growing into and maybe even embracing her new reality. With the sparest prose, Cusk has again created an expertly crafted portrait in this distinctive novel about the fear and hope that accompany change, and one woman's quest to conquer them. A masterful second installment to a promising trilogy. Copyright 2016 Booklist Reviews.

Rachel Cusk is the author of three memoirs—A Life’s Work, The Last Supper, and Aftermath—and several novels: Saving Agnes, winner of the Whitbread First Novel Award; The Temporary; The Country Life, which won a SomersetMaugham Award; The Lucky Ones; In the Fold; Arlington Park; The Bradshaw Variations; and Outline. She was chosen as one of Granta’s 2003 Best of Young British Novelists. She lives in London.