• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2018 May #1
  *Starred Review* In this final book in the Outline trilogy (Outline, 2015; Transit, 2017), Cusk's seemingly invisible protagonist, Faye, is attending a literary conference in Germany. There she describes settings and conversations in great detail, but as the conference draws to a close, we find that once again she herself has had little to say. Those who interview her have come with their impressions already formed, or with so much of their own lives to convey, Faye's story—her remarriage, the nature of her recent work, the new security in her relationships with her sons—remains hidden, waiting for readers to discover it between the lines. Cusk starkly contrasts Faye's new personal evolution with the anonymous, dispirited writer we met at the series' start, but she is surrounded by repeating tales of bitter divorces, physical tragedies, and career strains. Set against the political backdrop of Brexit, Cusk's dramatization of the ongoing struggle for feminine identity in a traditional and patriarchal world is burdensome and bleak, even as rare moments of tenderness shine through. Brilliantly aware without being indulgent or preachy, this novel has the intense beauty of form that has marked Cusk's trilogy from the beginning, and the final installment does not disappoint. Copyright 2018 Booklist Reviews.

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