A01=Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett
art history
Author_Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett
beach reads
Category=FBA
Category=FXD
eq_bestseller
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_modern-contemporary
eq_nobargain
forthcoming
friendship
Greek Island
holiday read
prize winning books
summer reads
women artists
women's literary fiction
Product details
- ISBN 9781035413843
- Dimensions: 129 x 198mm
- Publication Date: 16 Jul 2026
- Publisher: Headline Publishing Group
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Perfect for readers of HOT MILK or THE UNWILDING, FEMALE, NUDE is the ultimate literary summer read: propulsive, thought-provoking, sexy and relatable
**A STYLIST AND GOOD HOUSEKEEPING MOST ANTICIPATED READ 2026**
'Sharp and incisive with a sinewy, sultry quality that makes it really moreish' Pandora Sykes
'Energetic and ambitious... thoroughly enjoyable' Guardian
'I was engrossed... It's stylish and sexy and I loved the setting and all the food' Amy Liptrot
'Full of messy characters, I was hooked... I was a whirlwind of emotions reading this *****' Reader Review
'What a gorgeous, hot-blooded novel about art, the senses, and the multitudes of the female body' Charlotte Runcie
'Magnetically written' Stylist
'It's a book about so many things: feminism, betrayal, friendship, class, sex, lust, motherhood, and one hot Greek summer holiday with consequences *****' Reader Review
'Beautifully human... Romantic and heady and violent and sexy' Kirsty Capes
'Sultry and immediate' Sophie Mackintosh
'Sensual and erotic... the atmosphere is electric'*****' Reader Review
Sophie, a painter, is holidaying with friends in a stunning villa in Greece - her best friend Helena is shortly to be married, and this is the last time she and her friends will be together as single women. But life has treated them so differently since their university days, that Sophie is questioning everything about their friendship. Meanwhile her partner, Greg, is desperate for them to try for a baby, but she wants to devote herself to her art - and there are other, deeper forces, pulling the two of them in opposite directions.
In the course of the holiday, Sophie paints a nude portrait of her friend Alessia, and becomes involved in an intense affair with Ky, who lives and works on the island. Both the painting, and the affair, will challenge everything Sophie thinks she knows, about art, about motherhood, about sex - and about how and with whom she wants to spend the rest of her life.
**A STYLIST AND GOOD HOUSEKEEPING MOST ANTICIPATED READ 2026**
'Sharp and incisive with a sinewy, sultry quality that makes it really moreish' Pandora Sykes
'Energetic and ambitious... thoroughly enjoyable' Guardian
'I was engrossed... It's stylish and sexy and I loved the setting and all the food' Amy Liptrot
'Full of messy characters, I was hooked... I was a whirlwind of emotions reading this *****' Reader Review
'What a gorgeous, hot-blooded novel about art, the senses, and the multitudes of the female body' Charlotte Runcie
'Magnetically written' Stylist
'It's a book about so many things: feminism, betrayal, friendship, class, sex, lust, motherhood, and one hot Greek summer holiday with consequences *****' Reader Review
'Beautifully human... Romantic and heady and violent and sexy' Kirsty Capes
'Sultry and immediate' Sophie Mackintosh
'Sensual and erotic... the atmosphere is electric'*****' Reader Review
Sophie, a painter, is holidaying with friends in a stunning villa in Greece - her best friend Helena is shortly to be married, and this is the last time she and her friends will be together as single women. But life has treated them so differently since their university days, that Sophie is questioning everything about their friendship. Meanwhile her partner, Greg, is desperate for them to try for a baby, but she wants to devote herself to her art - and there are other, deeper forces, pulling the two of them in opposite directions.
In the course of the holiday, Sophie paints a nude portrait of her friend Alessia, and becomes involved in an intense affair with Ky, who lives and works on the island. Both the painting, and the affair, will challenge everything Sophie thinks she knows, about art, about motherhood, about sex - and about how and with whom she wants to spend the rest of her life.
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is the author of the memoir The Year of the Cat, a previous novel The Tyranny of Lost Things, and a collection of her Guardian columns, The Republic of Parenthood. She also reviews fiction for the Guardian and her journalism has appeared in Vogue, the Observer Magazine, i newspaper, TIME, the New Statesman, Stylist, Elle, and many more. Raised in Wales, she lives in north London with her husband, son, and cat, Mackerel.
