'Nightshade is a glorious novel... full of twisted sexuality, art and power' Observer

Family life. Reputation. They took a lifetime to build and a second to wreck.

Eve Laing, once the muse of an infamous painter, is now - forty years later - an artist herself. But she has sacrificed her career for her family and she resents the global success of her old college roommate. When Eve embarks on her most ambitious work yet, she takes a wrecking ball to her comfortable life, jettisoning her marriage for a beautiful young lover, a drifter half her age, who seems to share her single-minded creative vision.

This brilliant and timely novel explores sexual politics and asks if the true artist must relinquish the ordinary human need for love and connection. Can the creative urge be the most destructive - even deadliest - impulse of all?

'Brilliant and biting' Financial Times

Eve Laing is tired of being overshadowed by the men in her life, and wants only to live for her art, with murderous results.

About the Author
Annalena McAfee is the author of two novels, The Spoiler and Hame. She founded the Guardian Review, which she edited for six years, and was Arts and Literary Editor of the Financial Times.

Reviews
Nightshade is a glorious novel... full of twisted sexuality, art and power, about what it means to commit yourself entirely to the artistic life. The book's ending is unforgettable. -- Alex Preston * Observer *
Brilliant and biting. -- Harriet Fitch Little * Financial Times *
The drama of creation, of impending triumph or failure, and the expert rendering of the artistic process, all lift the novel to a new level...McAfee's prose is lyrical yet sharp... the novel fascinates...and Nightshade's questions continue to intrigue. -- Joanna Briscoe * Guardian *
McAfee's engaging novel combines a dark plot with a zestful skewering of the contemporary art world. -- Anthony Gardner * Mail on Sunday *
Eve is a fascinating, plausible creation, both alluring and monstrous in her all-consuming self-regard. * Metro *
[A] pacy tale of marital breakdown on the London art scene... Eve is an engagingly spiky anti-heroine. -- Anthony Cummins * Daily Mail *
Annalena McAfee brings a woman's art to such vivid life that the reader is drawn thrillingly into its creation. Art is no mere device in this novel, it is its beating heart. A lush and original novel. -- Polly Clark
Beautifully written, engrossing and provides insights into both the contemporary art scene and the individual artistic process. I loved each and every brushstroke -- Ian Rankin * Guardian, *Summer Reads of 2021* *



Book Information
ISBN 9781787301948
Author Annalena McAfee
Format Hardback
Page Count 304
Imprint Harvill Secker
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 517g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 162mm * 30mm