Artist's Widow

FROM THE AUTHOR SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE (1996) AND THE WHITBREAD PRIZE (2003)

''[Her] prose is a joy to read'' MICHAEL ARDITTI, INDEPENDENT

''This is a vicious little book, and thus all the more enjoyable'' PAUL BAUMANN, NEW YORK TIMES

''A . . . funny, and ultimately moving'' KIRKUS REVIEWS

The Artist''s Widow is the story of the good, the bad and the untalented. It begins on a hot August evening in Mayfair, at a private viewing of the ''Last Paintings'' of John Crane. Among those present are Crane''s widow, Lyris, also a painter; her friend Clovis Ingram, a middle-aged bookseller; Zoe, a beautiful young television filmmaker; and Lyris''s great-nephew Nathan Pursey, a boorish young conceptual artist.

None of them realises that the evening will change their lives forever.

The Artist''s Widow is a novel about the nature of the artistic impulse - about friendship, betrayal, courage and cowardice. It is also a London novel, exploring the mental and physical geography of the city in all its variety.