3.0
The Nude
ByPublisher Description
A Boston Globe Book We’re Most Excited About This Summer • An Electric Lit Queer Books You Need to Read this Summer • A Town & Country’s Best Book to Read This July • A Debutiful Noteworthy Debut of July • LitHub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2024
A gripping, provocative, and sensual debut novel about an art historian who journeys to a Greek island in pursuit of a found sculpture and quickly finds herself immersed in a cultural tug-of-war and a complicated love affair.
1999: An island off the southern coast of Greece. Art historian Elizabeth Clarke arrives with the intent to acquire a rare female sculpture. But what begins as a quest for a highly valued cultural artifact evolves into a trip that will force Elizabeth to contend with her career, her ambition, and her troubling history.
Disoriented by jet lag, debilitating migraines, and a dependence on prescription pills, Elizabeth turns to her charming and guileless translator to guide her around the labyrinthine island. Soon, the island’s lushness—its heat and light, its textures and tastes—take hold of Elizabeth. And when she’s introduced to her translator’s inscrutable wife—a subversive artist whose work seeks to deconstruct the female form—she becomes unexpectedly enthralled by her. But once the nude’s acquisition proves to be riskier than Elizabeth could have ever imagined, Elizabeth’s and the statue’s fate are called into question. To find a way out, Elizabeth must grapple with her past, the role she’s played in the global art trade, and the ethical fallouts her decisions could leave behind.
The Nude is an evocative and intense exploration of art, cultural theft, and what it means to be a woman helming morally complicated negotiations in a male-directed world.
A gripping, provocative, and sensual debut novel about an art historian who journeys to a Greek island in pursuit of a found sculpture and quickly finds herself immersed in a cultural tug-of-war and a complicated love affair.
1999: An island off the southern coast of Greece. Art historian Elizabeth Clarke arrives with the intent to acquire a rare female sculpture. But what begins as a quest for a highly valued cultural artifact evolves into a trip that will force Elizabeth to contend with her career, her ambition, and her troubling history.
Disoriented by jet lag, debilitating migraines, and a dependence on prescription pills, Elizabeth turns to her charming and guileless translator to guide her around the labyrinthine island. Soon, the island’s lushness—its heat and light, its textures and tastes—take hold of Elizabeth. And when she’s introduced to her translator’s inscrutable wife—a subversive artist whose work seeks to deconstruct the female form—she becomes unexpectedly enthralled by her. But once the nude’s acquisition proves to be riskier than Elizabeth could have ever imagined, Elizabeth’s and the statue’s fate are called into question. To find a way out, Elizabeth must grapple with her past, the role she’s played in the global art trade, and the ethical fallouts her decisions could leave behind.
The Nude is an evocative and intense exploration of art, cultural theft, and what it means to be a woman helming morally complicated negotiations in a male-directed world.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities28 Reviews
3.0
Claire Crow
Created 8 days agoShare
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Marlee
Created 20 days agoShare
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natkinson
Created about 1 month agoShare
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“‘If only they could have seen it - that gulf between how they valued me, and how I valued myself. Big enough to swallow us both’”
Camryn
Created 2 months agoShare
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Lydia Hephzibah
Created 3 months agoShare
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“3.25
Setting: Greece
Rep: sapphic protagonist
This is one of those strange little books that meanders along not being about much but it's still a relatively enjoyable experience. I wanted a bit more Theo to be honest, and a bit less of Elizabeth's introspection. It was alright, but not as good as I expected or hoped.”
About C. Michelle Lindley
C. Michelle Lindley’s writing has been featured in The Georgia Review, Conjunctions, and more. She has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Cornell University and a BA from the University of Berkeley in English and Art History. The Nude is her first novel.