The Blazing World

About this book

“A spectacularly good read...feminism in the tradition of Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex or Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own: richly complex, densely psychological, dazzlingly nuanced.” —Slate From the internationally bestselling author of The Summer Without Men comes “an electrifying work” (The Washington Post) about the lengths one woman will go for artistic recognition amid the deceptive powers of prejudice, money, fame, and desire. After years of having her work ignored or dismissed by critics, artist Harriet Burden decides to conduct an experiment: she presents her own art behind three male masks, concealing her female identity. Yet when the shows succeed and Burden steps forward for her triumphant reveal, she is betrayed by the third man, Rune, who claims the work as his own. After critics side with him, Burden and Rune suddenly find themselves in a charged and dangerous game—one that ends in his bizarre death. An intricately conceived, diabolical puzzle presented as a collection of texts, including Harriet’s journals assembled after her death, this “glorious mashup of storytelling and scholarship” (San Francisco Chronicle) unfolds from multiple perspectives as Harriet’s critics, fans, family, and others offer their own conflicting opinions of where the truth lies.