What You Will

Description

An intimate portrait of London intellectual life, the breakdown of a marriage and the friendship between two women, 'What You Will' draws the reader into a spellbinding world of beauty and tension. Gwen, an American painter, lives in London with her English husband, Lawrence, an Oxford don. When Gwen's friend Hilary arrives from New York bruised by a broken engagement, a lost job and an unsuitable love affair, Gwen is determined to find her someone to marry. But will he be another Oxford intellectual, a member of London's bohemia, or a professional from the scandal-ridden New York museum world? But with Gwen's arrival the bonds of friendship, love, and marriage are severely tested. Pressure builds in the household, affecting Gwen and Lawrence's small son as he struggles to engage with the sophistication and savagery around him. Tackling deep and unsetttling questions - Are we slaves to our impulses or to one another? Is it possible to have both love and freedom? Can the artist or the intellectual illuminate such questions?, 'What You Will' is a subtly wrought, multi-layered, and hypnotically suspenseful tale about how we handle our most intimate relationships.

Katherine Bucknell was born in Saigon and grew up in Washington, D.C. She is a literary scholar and the editor of Juvenilia: Poems 1922-1928 by W.H. Auden and of Diaries Volume One, 1939-1960 and Lost Years: A Memoir 1945-1951 both by Christopher Isherwood. Her novels are Canarino, Leninsky Prospekt, and What You Will. She lives in London with her husband and their three children.

Praise for 'What You Will': '"What You Will" contains some beautifully realised passages.' Observer 'A dense, layered portrait of three people's interlocking relations.' Sylvia Brownrigg, TLS 'A playfully serious novel with thoughts and ideas exploding like a storm of confetti.' Sarah Dunant, Saturday Guardian Praise for 'Canarino': 'A remarkably vigorous and subtle first novel: it is written with commanding authority and is impressively accomplished. The plotting is bold and alluring. The characters are vividly realised, forensically examined!beautifully observed. The writing throughout is spare and punctilious.' Independent 'A memorable debut.' Observer 'An artistic triumph.' Sunday Telegraph 'An impressively structured novel.' Spectator 'A sharp, pacily written examination of a marriage in slow motion.' Time Out 'Superbly draws a secure, unquestioned world and its subsequent downfall. There is much to admire in the writing.' Times Literary Supplement 'Divorce, money, sexy men and classy prose. Chick lit for clever girls.' Style Magazine, Sunday Times