'Almost hypnotically perfect prose' Kate Sawyer | 'A thoughtful, tender and delicate consideration of life's choices' Huma Qureshi | 'Ashby handles her material lightly and atmospherically' Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
When Cathy and Noah first got together neither saw children in their future. Eight years later, they're happily married - and Cathy isn't so sure. With Noah's patience for his wife's ambivalence waning, her widowed mother in a world of her own and her best friend yearning for a second baby, Cathy feels increasingly adrift.
Escaping into her work in the conservation studios of the National Gallery, she chips away at the layers of overpaint on a canvas from the collection. Will the discovery of an unexpected truth help her find the clarity she craves?
SECOND SELF is a novel about confronting expectations, and learning to cope with the nagging, complex questions that shape a life. It's about minds and bodies at the mercy of natural forces and social pressure. Above all, it's an ode to big decisions, small, tender moments, and how we choose to be. This absorbing second novel from the author of WET PAINT is perfect for fans of EXPECTATION and SORROW AND BLISS.
Genre: Literary Fiction
When Cathy and Noah first got together neither saw children in their future. Eight years later, they're happily married - and Cathy isn't so sure. With Noah's patience for his wife's ambivalence waning, her widowed mother in a world of her own and her best friend yearning for a second baby, Cathy feels increasingly adrift.
Escaping into her work in the conservation studios of the National Gallery, she chips away at the layers of overpaint on a canvas from the collection. Will the discovery of an unexpected truth help her find the clarity she craves?
SECOND SELF is a novel about confronting expectations, and learning to cope with the nagging, complex questions that shape a life. It's about minds and bodies at the mercy of natural forces and social pressure. Above all, it's an ode to big decisions, small, tender moments, and how we choose to be. This absorbing second novel from the author of WET PAINT is perfect for fans of EXPECTATION and SORROW AND BLISS.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"A precise and moving novel about expectation, ambivalence and desire. SECOND SELF unravels one of life's big questions and asks what happens when two people change separately as well as together." - Abigail Bergstrom
"SECOND SELF is a thoughtful exploration of one of the most difficult decisions a person can make. Ashby handles her material lightly and atmospherically. It feels like reading the secret thoughts of a dear friend." - Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
"SECOND SELF is a novel about love, art, and those monumental, impossible life decisions. At times meditative, at times heartbreaking, but throughout compassionate and nuanced. A thoughtful, tender novel that will resonate with many thirty-somethings and is sure to spark many a discussion among its readers." - Jenny Mustard
"An elegantly subtle novel about motherhood, marriage and choice - I'm sure it will resonate with many." - Claire Powell
"I found SECOND SELF to be a thoughtful, tender and delicate consideration of life's choices; there's a beguiling simplicity to Chloe's considered, timeless and elegiac prose, and I know that this is a story of longing that will stay with me." - Huma Qureshi
"SECOND SELF is thoughtful and beautifully formed and written in almost hypnotically perfect prose. About the big questions surrounding becoming a mother and being a daughter to ageing parents. A delight. I can't wait to read all of Chloe's work." - Kate Sawyer
"SECOND SELF is a thoughtful exploration of one of the most difficult decisions a person can make. Ashby handles her material lightly and atmospherically. It feels like reading the secret thoughts of a dear friend." - Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
"SECOND SELF is a novel about love, art, and those monumental, impossible life decisions. At times meditative, at times heartbreaking, but throughout compassionate and nuanced. A thoughtful, tender novel that will resonate with many thirty-somethings and is sure to spark many a discussion among its readers." - Jenny Mustard
"An elegantly subtle novel about motherhood, marriage and choice - I'm sure it will resonate with many." - Claire Powell
"I found SECOND SELF to be a thoughtful, tender and delicate consideration of life's choices; there's a beguiling simplicity to Chloe's considered, timeless and elegiac prose, and I know that this is a story of longing that will stay with me." - Huma Qureshi
"SECOND SELF is thoughtful and beautifully formed and written in almost hypnotically perfect prose. About the big questions surrounding becoming a mother and being a daughter to ageing parents. A delight. I can't wait to read all of Chloe's work." - Kate Sawyer
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Used availability for Chloe Ashby's Second Self