Audition

The unnamed narrator is an established actress in New York, rehearsing a play called The Opposite Shore and finding it hard to play the moment when her character turns from grief to action. Over lunch she meets Xavier, a much younger, good-looking man who claims she is his mother, which she believes cannot be true. Her husband comes upon the two of them, and the strain among the three drives the book. It is told in two parts by the same narrator, and in the second Xavier holds a different place in her life; nothing explains the shift between them. Out of the two versions the novel asks which roles people play for one another, as partner, parent or artist, and how much of those closest to us stays hidden.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Genres

Family (assigned by AI)

Set in

United States

First published

2025

Author's age

46 when first published

ISBN

9780593852323 (Riverhead Books, United States)

9781911717324 (Fern Press, United Kingdom)

9780593852347 (Riverhead Books, United States)

9781529937299 (Vintage, United Kingdom)

More

Wikidata