Envy

Description

From the author of 'The Kiss' and 'The Binding Chair' comes an intense novel of dark secrets and sexual betrayal. Will has a good sex life - with the woman he married. So why then is he increasingly plagued by violent erotic fantasies? He's about to lose his grip when he attends a college reunion and there discovers evidence of a past sexual betrayal, one serious enough that it threatens to overpower the present. Hypnotic and beautifully written, this mesmerising novel explores how painful psychological truths long buried within a family can corrupt the present but, through courage and understanding, lead to healing and renewal.

Kathryn Harrison is a graduate of Stanford University and of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her first novel, Thicker than Water, was a New York Times Notable Book, as was her second, Exposure. Her most recent novel is A Thousand Orange Trees. She is also the author of The Kiss which received critical acclaim. She lives in New York City with her husband, the writer Colin Harrison and their children.

'! I was transfixed, gulping it down, desperate to ! find out how the spiralling misery of ! characters would be resolved.' Guardian 'This is a dark and brooding novel an examination of one man's mid-life crisis. Particularly impressive is Harrison's ability to write about sex in a way that is explicit and revealing but never prurient.' Mail on Sunday 'Rendered in a prose so lapidary, with the lovely surface bloom of some rare and exquisite work of art. Gracefully wayward mixture of sex and grief.' Jane Shilling, Sunday Telegraph 'In Harrison's intense and sometimes unbearably moving novel, the fallen masonry of history reassembles itself. Compelling and genuinely disturbing.' The Times 'A marvelous writer, one of the best at work today. She is unflinching, however difficult her material. Her characters are complex, her dialogue razor-sharp and her range -- moral, historical and geographical -- is unparalleled. Few authors of serious literary fiction are so daring.' Cressida Connolly, Daily Telegraph 'Novel of the Week' 'Harrison's precise control over the story and her delivery of one central and splendidly lubricious sex scene make "Envy" an engrossing read. Harrison's complex tale of damaged personal interactions invites serious reflection.' Time Out