A painter's death sets into motion a story of desire-past and present-and its enduring repercussions
Catherine and Vinny are sisters and writers living in contemporary London. Catherine, a professor, publishes erotic novels under an assumed name, keeping her acclaimed novelist husband, Adam, in the dark. When not writing her poetry, Vinny wanders the streets of the city marking the houses of female authors with chalk quotations from their work.
When Adam's father dies, both women are forced to reconsider the event that shaped their lives, the betrayal at the heart of their relationships. Haunted by their individual and common pasts, they must come to terms with each other, and with their present-day lives.
Acclaimed author Michèle Roberts not only brings history to life-interwoven into this contemporary narrative is the story of another set of sisters, the Brontës-but illuminates the way it informs, or shadows, the present. Evocative, emotional, and intelligent, The Mistressclass is an exploration of the desires that move us-toward art and literature, and toward each other.
"Sumptuous... Just as Michael Cunningham looked to Virginia Woolf for inspiration, so does Roberts tantalizingly blend literary history with contemporary histrionics in this sublimely emotive portrait of love and betrayal, attraction and rejection."
Booklist
"A powerful, sensual novel... Roberts's great gift for describing the world of the senses so vividly that reading her is rather like walking into an Impressionist painting, underlined by a sharp literary intelligence concerning what art could and should do."
Independent on Sunday
"Graceful...Roberts's sharp but sympathetic character studies give the love triangle uncommon depth."
