An “eviscerating” (The New York Times) novel about being a wife, a mother, and an artist, and how marriage makes liars of us all—from the author of Very Cold People and 300 Arguments
“Is divorce the new marriage plot? . . . [Liars] pulses with a rare kind of anger, making it a compulsive, unforgettable read. Love stories, it seems, are out. Divorce as liberation? Very much in.”—Vogue
“A tour de force . . . Liars makes an old story fresh.”—NPR
“A bracing story of a woman on the verge.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
A nuclear family can destroy a woman artist. I’d always known that. But I’d never suspected how easily I’d fall into one anyway.
When Jane, an aspiring writer, meets filmmaker John Bridges, they both want the same things: to be in love, to live a successful, creative life, and to be happy. When they marry, Jane believes she has found everything she was looking for, including—a few years later—all the attendant joys and labors of motherhood. But it’s not long until Jane finds herself subsumed by John’s ambitions, whims, and ego; in short, she becomes a wife.
As Jane’s career flourishes, their marriage starts to falter. Throughout the upheavals of family life, Jane tries to hold it all together. That is, until John leaves her.
Liars is a tour de force of wit and rage, telling the blistering story of a marriage as it burns to the ground, and of a woman rising inexorably from its ashes.
Genre: Literary Fiction
“Is divorce the new marriage plot? . . . [Liars] pulses with a rare kind of anger, making it a compulsive, unforgettable read. Love stories, it seems, are out. Divorce as liberation? Very much in.”—Vogue
“A tour de force . . . Liars makes an old story fresh.”—NPR
“A bracing story of a woman on the verge.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
A nuclear family can destroy a woman artist. I’d always known that. But I’d never suspected how easily I’d fall into one anyway.
When Jane, an aspiring writer, meets filmmaker John Bridges, they both want the same things: to be in love, to live a successful, creative life, and to be happy. When they marry, Jane believes she has found everything she was looking for, including—a few years later—all the attendant joys and labors of motherhood. But it’s not long until Jane finds herself subsumed by John’s ambitions, whims, and ego; in short, she becomes a wife.
As Jane’s career flourishes, their marriage starts to falter. Throughout the upheavals of family life, Jane tries to hold it all together. That is, until John leaves her.
Liars is a tour de force of wit and rage, telling the blistering story of a marriage as it burns to the ground, and of a woman rising inexorably from its ashes.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Painful and brilliant - I loved it." - Elif Batuman
"From the first page I was spellbound. This book deserves to be read and reread again to fully absorb its primal power and truth." - Emily Gould
"An exquisitely creepy book about one of our most horrifying institutions: marriage. I quickly devoured it and loved it." - Myriam Gurba
"Powerful . . . an unflinchingly true and honest depiction of a marriage turning from gold to dust - the resentments and disappointments that can rot the heart." - Miranda Cowley Heller
"A white-hot dissection of the power imbalances in a marriage, and as gripping as you want fiction to be. Any spouse that has ever argued about money, time, work and childcare should read it." - Nick Hornby
"Shocking and captivating." - Julia Phillips
"I read Liars in one breathless, refuse-to-be-interrupted sitting. I was walloped on every page." - Maggie Smith
"I couldn't put it down. An astounding feat, spanning a fourteen-year marriage with concision and specificity . . . It sliced all the way through me. So many women will connect with this book." - Rachel Yoder
"From the first page I was spellbound. This book deserves to be read and reread again to fully absorb its primal power and truth." - Emily Gould
"An exquisitely creepy book about one of our most horrifying institutions: marriage. I quickly devoured it and loved it." - Myriam Gurba
"Powerful . . . an unflinchingly true and honest depiction of a marriage turning from gold to dust - the resentments and disappointments that can rot the heart." - Miranda Cowley Heller
"A white-hot dissection of the power imbalances in a marriage, and as gripping as you want fiction to be. Any spouse that has ever argued about money, time, work and childcare should read it." - Nick Hornby
"Shocking and captivating." - Julia Phillips
"I read Liars in one breathless, refuse-to-be-interrupted sitting. I was walloped on every page." - Maggie Smith
"I couldn't put it down. An astounding feat, spanning a fourteen-year marriage with concision and specificity . . . It sliced all the way through me. So many women will connect with this book." - Rachel Yoder
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