by Anna North
First published 2015
Sophie Stark creates films that capture reality with unsettling precision. Her camera sees everything, but Sophie herself remains a mystery to those closest to her. Her husband watches her disappear into her work. Her brother remembers the girl who abandoned him years ago. An actress finds herself unable to escape Sophie's orbit or forget their connection. Each of them tells their piece of Sophie's story, revealing a woman whose artistic vision demands everything from herself and everyone around her. Through their voices, a portrait emerges of someone who can translate life into art but struggles to live within it. The cost of her genius becomes clear as each relationship fractures under the weight of her obsessive pursuit of truth through film. Anna North weaves these six perspectives into a story about the price of artistic brilliance and the people who pay it alongside the artist.
Genres: drama, literary-fiction, contemporary, psychological-thriller
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-study, unreliable-narrator
Period: 21st-century
320 pages · ebook · Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Content warnings: mental-illness