Life Drawing

" Robin] Black is a writer of great wisdom, and illuminates, without undue emphasis, the flickering complexity of individual histories. . . . Her] taut, elegant prose is both effective and affecting. . . . "Life Drawing" is at once quiet and memorable. This makes it far from fashionable, and all th [...]
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" Robin] Black is a writer of great wisdom, and illuminates, without undue emphasis, the flickering complexity of individual histories. . . . Her] taut, elegant prose is both effective and affecting. . . . "Life Drawing" is at once quiet and memorable. This makes it far from fashionable, and all the more to be applauded. Its author pursues real and vital questions. Astringent and wise, Black is not afraid to discomfit her readers. This novel, like life, is uneasy: what a relief."--Claire Messud, "The Guardian "(UK)
In "Life Drawing," her gorgeously written first novel, Robin Black unfolds a fierce, honest, and moving portrait of a woman, and of a couple's life--the betrayals and intimacies, the needs and regrets, the secrets that sustain love and the ones that threaten to destroy it.
Augusta and Owen have moved to the country, and live a quiet, and rather solitary life, Gus as a painter, Owen as a writer. They have left behind the city, and its associations to a troubled past, devoting their days to each other and their art. But beneath the surface of this tranquil existence lies the heavy truth of Gus's past betrayal, an affair that ended, but that quietly haunts Owen, Gus and their marriage.
When Alison Hemmings, a beautiful British divorcee, moves in next door, Gus, feeling lonely and isolated, finds herself drawn to Alison, and as their relationship deepens, the lives of the three neighbors become more and more tightly intertwined. With the arrival of Alison's daughter Nora, the emotions among them grow so intense that even the slightest misstep has the potential to do irrevocable harm to them all
With lyrical precision and taut, suspenseful storytelling, Black steadily draws us deeper into a world filled with joys and darkness, love and sorrows, a world that becomes as real as our own. "Life Drawing" is a novel as beautiful and unsparing as the human heart.
Praise for "Life Drawing"
"Gripping . . . The power of this story is how it illuminates, in utterly compelling detail, the complex give-and-take of a couple trying to save their marriage once betrayal has entered the picture."--"O: The Oprah Magazine"
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"Explosive . . . impressive . . . a fine-brushed study of marriage's light and shadow . . . There's truth to be found in her portrait of long-lived love, its outlines painfully vulnerable to the perspectives of others."--"Vogue"
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" A] nuanced debut."--"People"
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"Stunning . . . Black] is that rare writer whose gift for prose is matched by her mastery of the other elements that make a great novel. . . . Black takes us well beneath the surface of her much-told midlife story, often-analyzed marital crisis, traditional setup for a classic denouement--making out of all of it a reading experience that is breathtaking, shiny and new. . . . Black's psychological prowess and incisive observations lend an edge even to seemingly straightforward scenes. . . . Truly a brilliant, novel novel."--"Chicago Tribune"
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"An examination of the fragility of human relationships and desires, and one of the more powerfully written books so far this year."--"The Roanoke Times"
"Suffused with a remarkably sustained emotional intensity . . . Every intimate contour of the couple's relationship is mapped by Black with devastating accuracy. Full of insight into the fragility of marriage, this is a memorable read."--"The Sunday Times" (London)