Kudos

The third novel in Rachel Cusk’s masterful trilogy that begins with Outline and Transit

‘Widely praised for breaking new fictional ground, it is a blazing experiment in auto-fiction that seamlessly amalgamates form and substance.’ – The Financial Times

A woman on a plane listens to the stranger in the seat next to hers telling her the story of his life: his work, his marriage, and the harrowing night he has just spent burying the family dog. That woman is Faye, who is now on her way to Europe to promote the book she has just published.

Arriving at her destination, Faye’s conversations form the arc of the novel’s progression. Her conversations - about art, about family, about politics, about love, about sorrow and joy, about justice and injustice - are the most far-reaching questions human beings ask. These exchanges - the last of them with her son - rise dramatically and majestically to a beautiful, unexpected conclusion.

How can a person reconnect with their sense of self? How do we reconstruct a family? How might we rebuild a broken country? In the unflinching and powerful conclusion of her ‘Faye’ trilogy, Rachel Cusk considers the demands placed on us on modern life and how to live – and live as a woman – in such a world. Described by the Guardian as ‘a landmark of contemporary English literature’, Kudos is a masterpiece of observation and insight that marks Cusk as one of the most talented novelists of her generation.