FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF WHAT I LOVED

''An astoundingly joyful read . . . a book that shines with intellectual curiosity and emotional integrity'' Guardian

''By turns funny, moving and erudite, playfully reminding us of a contemporary Jane Austen'' Daily Mail

After Mia Fredricksen''s husband of thirty years asks for a pause - so he can indulge his infatuation with a young French colleague - she cracks up (briefly), rages (deeply), then decamps to her prairie childhood home.

There, gradually, she is drawn into the lives of those around her: her mother''s circle of feisty widows; the young woman next door; and the diabolical teenage girls in her poetry class. By the end of the summer without men, Mia knows what''s worth fighting for - and on whose terms.

Provocative, mordant, and fiercely intelligent, this is a gloriously vivacious tragi-comedy about women and girls, love and marriage, and the age-old war between the sexes.

A rich and intelligent meditation on female identity, written in beguiling lyrical prose . . . heady and intoxicating'' Sunday Times


PRAISE FOR SIRI HUSTVEDT:

''Hustvedt is that rare artist, a writer of high intelligence, profound sensuality and a less easily definable capacity for which the only word I can find is wisdom'' Salman Rushdie

''One of our finest novelists'' Oliver Sacks

''Reading a Hustvedt novel is like consuming the best of David Lynch'' Financial Times

''Few contemporary writers are as satisfying and stimulating to read as Siri Hustvedt'' Washington Post