‘A great book’
Elif Shafak, Observer

‘Phenomenal’
Guardian

In this remarkable collection of essays, Siri Hustvedt confirms her reputation as one of our most important contemporary writers, bringing a feminist, interdisciplinary perspective to subjects across the humanities and sciences.

The book’s first section explores the complexities of perception and art, with Louise Bourgeois, Pablo Picasso, and Karl Ove Knausgaard among those who come under her scrutiny. In the book’s central essay she explores the intractable mind-body problem, and in the final section she reflects on the mysteries of hysteria, synesthesia, and memory.

With astounding clarity, passion, and wit, Hustvedt exposes gender bias, upends received ideas, and challenges her reader to think again.

‘A writer with an unusual blend of incisive intelligence, humour and imagination . . . we are fortunate to have Hustvedt voicing doubt so intelligently’
Lara Feigel, Financial Times