Life of M: From the author of the Outline trilogy
Aug 2026 · Faber & Faber
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About this ebook
An irresistible novel of fame, power, beauty and truth -- 'Truly masterful, her best work so far. I loved it' Vincenzo Latronico
A little while ago, I told the actor M that I was thinking of writing her autobiography. She liked the idea. She's a good sport. Would you just make it up? she said.
M is a film star, and one of the most recognisable faces of our time.
With such fame, her life has the appearance of freedom: people are instantly obliging, spaces are altered to accommodate her, time can be rearranged. For her, it seems, the rules of reality have melted away.
Now M has agreed to let a stranger write her biography. Their project will sprawl and expand: to the olive groves and holiday beaches where M spends her days; across hotel rooms, bourgeois facades, film sets; through endless modern cities. It is hard not to feel ugly next to M, hard not to feel insignificant. But what truths - about the very experience of living - might this proximity allow the writer to briefly capture? And what in the end will M make of their work?
In Life of M, Rachel Cusk has again fashioned a new kind of literature. A novel stripped of artifice, it takes our emptiness and fills it with grace.
'Electrifying . . . a deeply enjoyable addition to Cusk's canon concerning brilliant and divided
women' Megan Nolan, Observer
'[Cusk] is a disciple of the truth, and she helps us to see' Lucy Jones, Independent
'Roll up, wave a flag and join the crowds to watch Rachel Cusk continue her relentless march through life' Irish Times
A little while ago, I told the actor M that I was thinking of writing her autobiography. She liked the idea. She's a good sport. Would you just make it up? she said.
M is a film star, and one of the most recognisable faces of our time.
With such fame, her life has the appearance of freedom: people are instantly obliging, spaces are altered to accommodate her, time can be rearranged. For her, it seems, the rules of reality have melted away.
Now M has agreed to let a stranger write her biography. Their project will sprawl and expand: to the olive groves and holiday beaches where M spends her days; across hotel rooms, bourgeois facades, film sets; through endless modern cities. It is hard not to feel ugly next to M, hard not to feel insignificant. But what truths - about the very experience of living - might this proximity allow the writer to briefly capture? And what in the end will M make of their work?
In Life of M, Rachel Cusk has again fashioned a new kind of literature. A novel stripped of artifice, it takes our emptiness and fills it with grace.
'Electrifying . . . a deeply enjoyable addition to Cusk's canon concerning brilliant and divided
women' Megan Nolan, Observer
'[Cusk] is a disciple of the truth, and she helps us to see' Lucy Jones, Independent
'Roll up, wave a flag and join the crowds to watch Rachel Cusk continue her relentless march through life' Irish Times
An irresistible novel of fame, power, beauty and truth -- 'Truly masterful, her best work so far. I loved it' Vincenzo Latronico
A little while ago, I told the actor M that I was thinking of writing her autobiography. She liked the idea. She's a good sport. Would you just make it up? she said. ...
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About the author
Rachel Cusk is the author of Second Place (Prix Femina étranger), the Outline trilogy, the memoirs A Life's Work and Aftermath and several other works of fiction and non-fiction, including her most recent novel, Parade (Goldsmiths Prize, 2024). She is a Guggenheim Fellow, the recipient of the 2024 Malaparte Prize and has been awarded the title of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. She lives in Paris.
Rachel Cusk is the author of Second Place (Prix Femina étranger), the Outline trilogy, the memoirs A Life's Work and Aftermath and several other works of fiction and non-fiction, including her most recent novel, Parade (Goldsmiths Prize, 2024). She is a Guggenheim Fellow, the recipient of the 202...
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