Book Description

“An ambiguous relationship is turned inside out in this intensely vivid novel . . . Kerninon’s novel charms and unsettles to an equal degree.” —Kirkus Reviews Winner of the 2018 Fénéon Literary Prize Helen and Franck, both born into high-ranking diplomatic families, meet in Rome as high-school students and immediately detect in each other the wounded child hidden beneath their gilded social status. Their relationship becomes a dangerous, explosive mix of love and friendship. Immediately after Helen’s graduation, they leave their past and family behind to move in together in her apartment in Amsterdam. While Helen immerses herself in her studies and embarks on a promising academic career, Frank, after a few difficult years, makes a spectacular debut on the Dutch Art scene with his first paintings. Helen remains faithfully by his side during his rise to fame, overseeing the domestic details of his life in apparent total self-abnegation. Are introverted Helen and flamboyant Franck who they really appear to be? Are they victims or monsters? Kerninon’s English language debut, full of masterfully orchestrated twists and turns, leaves these simple distinctions behind, and progresses into far more fascinating terrain. “Julia Kerninon offers up a hypersensitive novel, with chiseled sentences and a melancholy tone. I adored this uncommon love.” —Elle “Complex and evocative . . . [A] portrait of the inequalities inherent in each relationship, and the emotional burden that is often placed on women in order to keep these relationships afloat.” —Châtelaine “Kerninon’s perceptive unfolding of Helen’s pains in elegant prose makes for a poignant portrait of buried frustrations. Readers looking for a slow burn will enjoy this tragic novel.” —Publishers Weekly