The Prize
A Novel
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
Edward Darby has everything a man could hope for: meaningful work, a loving wife, and a beloved daughter. With a rising career as a partner at an esteemed gallery, he strives not to let ambition, money, power, and his dark past corrode the sanctuary of his domestic and private life. Influenced by his father, a brilliant Romantics scholar, Edward has always been more of a purist than an opportunist. But when a celebrated artist controlled by her insecurities betrays him, and another very different artist awakens his heart and stirs up secrets from his past, Edward will find himself unmoored from his marriage, his work, and the memory of his beloved father. And when the finalist of an important prize are announced, and the desperate artists maneuver to seek its validation, Edward soon learns that betrayal comes in many forms, and that he may be hurtling toward an act that challenges his own notions about what comprises a life worth living. A compelling odyssey of a man unhinged by his ideals, The Prize is also an unflinching portrait of a marriage struggling against the corroding tide of time and the proximity to the treacherous fault line between art and money.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this luminous behind-the-scenes view of the art world, the poet, novelist, and memoirist Bialosky (History of a Suicide) explores the complicated terrain of relationships, as well as the inspiration behind creativity and the roles commercialism and politics play in artistic expression. Manhattan art dealer Edward Darby, who obsessively compares himself to his father (a Romantic poetry scholar whose life imploded years ago), seeks to navigate the precarious balance between passion for his work and the demands of a wife and daughter. Though it's not an unusual struggle, the author stacks the odds against Darby, with a brilliant father who emotionally and physically derailed when Darby was a young man, and Darby's lingering guilt over his first wife, who died in an accident years ago. Added to the mix is Agnes Murray, a temperamental up-and-coming artist whom Darby takes under his wing. A prestigious artist's prize raises the stakes for Agnes, as does an affair and an aggressive professional rival, forcing Darby to examine his heart in a way he never has before in terms of his marriage, his choice of profession, and the secrets he has kept all his life. One expects a poet's prose to soar in fiction, and the author does not disappoint, crafting her own work of art with her evocative, fresh descriptions and her careful observations of how artists transform inspiration into their work.
