Rachel Cusk

A woman arrives in Athens in the height of the summer to teach a writing course. Once there, she becomes the audience to a chain of narratives as the people she meets tell her one after another the stories of their lives. Beginning with the neighbouring passenger on the flight out and his tales of fast boats and failed marriages,...

A path-breaking novel of art, womanhood and violence, from the author of the Outline trilogy. Midway through his life, an artist begins to paint upside down. In Paris, a woman is attacked by a stranger in the street. A mother dies. A man falls to his death. Couples seek escape in distant lands. The new novel from one of the...

Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2021 'A classic, but with contemporary urgency thumping through it.' - Claire-Louise Bennett, author of Pond A woman invites a famed artist to the remote coastal landscape where she lives. Drawn to his paintings, she believes his vision may penetrate the mystery at the centre of her life. But as a long, dry summer sets...

When Rachel Cusk decides to travel to Italy for a summer with her husband and two young children, she has no idea of the trials and wonders that lie in store. Their journey leads them to both the expected and the surprising, all seen through Cusk's sharp and humane perspective. The Last Supper offers a vivid and reflective account of...

Winner of the Whitbread First Novel Award Saving Agnes introduces us to Agnes Day - sub-editor, suburbanite, and failure extraordinaire - who 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 facade,...

Ralph Loman works in an unsatisfying job, for a free London newspaper, when Francine Snaith, a temporary secretary for a corporate finance firm, unexpectedly crosses his path at a party. Her beauty ignites a blaze of excitement in his troubled heart. But Francine is ravenous for attention, driven by a thirst for conquest, and when Ralph tries politely to extricate...

In the winter of 2009, Rachel Cusk's marriage of ten years came to an end. In the months that followed, life as she had known it came apart, 'like a jigsaw dismantled into a heap of broken-edged pieces'. Aftermath chronicles this perilous journey as the author redefines herself as a single woman and creates a new version of family life...

In the wake of family collapse, a writer and her two young sons move to London. The process of upheaval is the catalyst for a number of transitions — personal, moral, artistic, practical — as she endeavours to construct a new reality for herself and her children. Filtered through the impersonal gaze of its keenly intelligent protagonist, Transit sees Rachel...

When eighteen-year-old Michael visits the Hanbury's remote family home, he is captivated by their bohemian lifestyle. Years later, when he marries the strong-willed, beautiful Rebecca, he is secretly hoping to create his own version of that free-thinking family. However, after the birth of their first child, their marriage begins to flounder. The chance to escape once more to his friend's...

A woman on a plane listens to the stranger in the seat next to hers telling her the story of his life: his work, his marriage, and the harrowing night he has just spent burying the family dog. That woman is Faye, who is now on her way to Europe to promote the book she has just published. Once she...

Stella Benson sets off for Hilltop, a tiny Sussex village housing a family that is somewhat larger than life. Her hopes for the Maddens may be high, but her station among them, as au pair to their irascible son Martin, is undeniably low. What could possibly have driven her to leave her home, job, and life in London for such...

The Bradshaw Variations by Rachel Cusk explores the intricacies of marriage in its middle years. Thomas Bradshaw and Tonie Swann find themselves caught in the classic scenario: a comfortable house, a happy-enough daughter, and an unsettling feeling that life might be unfolding elsewhere. The dynamics shift when Tonie accepts a significant promotion at work, prompting Thomas to embrace the role...

Arlington Park is an ordinary English suburb. Over the course of a single day, the novel moves from one household to another, revealing its characters: Juliet, enraged at the victory of men over women in family life; Amanda, warding off thoughts of death with obsessive housework; Solly, about to give birth to her fourth child; Maisie, struggling to accept provincial...

A Finalist for the Folio Prize, the Goldsmiths Prize, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. One of The New York Times' Top Ten Books of the Year. Named a New York Times Book Review Notable Book and a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, Vogue, NPR, The Guardian, The Independent, Glamour, and...

A little while ago, I told the actor M that I was thinking of writing her autobiography. She liked the idea. She's a good sport. Would you just make it up? she said. The film star M is one of the most recognisable faces of our time. Her image is everywhere. It has been like that since she was a...

A path-breaking novel of art, womanhood and violence, from the author of the Outline trilogy. Midway through his life, an artist begins to paint upside down. In Paris, a woman is attacked by a stranger in the street. A mother dies. A man falls to his death. Couples seek escape in distant lands. The new novel from one of the...

When first published in 2001, it divided female critics and readers. One famous columnist wrote a piece demanding that Cusk's children were taken into care, declaring she was unfit to look after them. Oprah Winfrey invited her on the show to defend herself and the book as protests grew about its honest, gritty account of the misery of those early...