Lioness
The bold new novel from the Women's Prize Longlisted author
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE OCKHAM NZ BOOK AWARDS
'The most exciting novel I've read in ages... I gulped it down, so readable, so EXCELLENT about people. Read it' Marian Keyes
'This novel is perfection' Glamour
'A coolly ironic look at modern womanhood… This is an excellent novel' The Times
You know how we say we devoured a story, and also that we were consumed by it? Eating and being eaten. It was like that with Claire, for me.
From humble beginnings, Therese has let herself grow used to a life of luxury after marrying into an empire-building family. But when rumours of corruption gather around her husband's latest development, the social opprobrium is shocking, the fallout swift, and Therese begins to look at her privileged and insular world with new eyes.
In the flat below Therese, something else is brewing. Her neighbour Claire believes she's discovered the secret to living with freedom and authenticity, freeing herself from the mundanity of domesticity. Therese finds herself enchanted by the lure of the permissive zone Claire creates in her apartment – a place of ecstatic release.
All too quickly, Therese is forced to confront herself and her choices – just how did she become this person? And what exactly should she do about it?
'A thoughtful, intelligent novel about one woman's search for more meaning' Good Housekeeping
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In this vibrant and enthralling novel, New Zealand author Emily Perkins explores transformation, identity and privilege with extraordinary deftness. Protagonist Therese’s north star is her husband of nearly 30 years, Trevor—an indestructible property developer and the Thorne family patriarch. The claustrophobic but luxurious life she’s constructed is disrupted when the ethics of Trevor’s business dealings are questioned and Therese forms a friendship with chaotic, charismatic Claire, her downstairs neighbour. Under Claire’s influence, Therese starts to re-think her choices and culpabilities, and interrogates womanhood for the first time. Perkins builds the world of Lioness quickly—details are collapsed into succinct and evocative phrases, and her characters’ complex motivations and histories are masterfully rendered. She captures the duality of constraint and freedom with intoxicating clarity. And while Therese’s wealth isn’t universally relatable, her journey of unfurling emancipation is.