In this comedy by a Pulitzer Prize–winning author, a biographer out to vindicate a neglected female artist learns that the truth is never tidy.

Polly Alter is through with men. Recovering from her divorce, she has taken a year off from her museum job to write a biography of Lorin Jones, a sensitive painter who died young and nearly forgotten. Polly is determined to bring the artist the public acclaim she deserves, making up for the neglect and exploitation Lorin suffered from the men in her life.

The only problem with the story of Lorin’s victimhood is that it may not be true. And as Polly wades deeper into her research, growing more attached to her subject, and more lost in the world of two decades past, she begins to realize that no life story is as simple as a biographer might wish.

The National Book Award–shortlisted author of Foreign Affairs writes a daring and “relentless comedy” that novelist Edmund White calls “one of the most entertaining novels I've read in a long time” (The New York Times).

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alison Lurie including rare images from the author’s collection.