WINNER OF THE WHITBREAD FIRST NOVEL AWARD

'A writer with a poet's eye for convincing detail.' Sunday Telegraph
'A funny, knowing tale of middle-class, middle-twenties angst ... Cool, resonant, and accomplished.' Independent
'Told with irony and insight and some surreally beautiful imagery. At times it made me laugh out loud.' Sheila MacKay

Agnes Day - sub-editor, suburbanite, failure extraordinaire - has discovered disconcerting gaps in her general understanding of the world. Terminally middle-class and incurably romantic, Agnes finds herself chronically confused by the most basic interactions. Life and love go on without her, but with a little façade she can pass herself off as a success. Beneath the fiction, however, the burden of truth becomes harder to bear.

Rachel Cusk is the author of Second Place (Prix Femina étranger), the Outline trilogy, the memoirs A Life's Work and Aftermath, and several other works of fiction and nonfiction, including her most recent novel Parade (Goldsmiths Prize, 2024). She is a Guggenheim Fellow, the recipient of the 2024 Malaparte Prize, and has been awarded the title of Chevalier de l'ordre des arts et des lettres. She lives in Paris.