Second Place by Rachel Cusk

 

M is a middle-aged woman, a writer with some small success.  She is living with her second husband, Tony, in the marshes of England in a remote location and her daughter has recently moved back home as well.  Surrounded by family, M should be happy but she feels that she is cut out for a more artistic life and that she needs inspiration.  While Tony was clearing their land, he finds a cottage which the couple sets up as their 'second place', somewhere they can invite guests.

M had admired the paintings of L, an artist who had been quite famous at one time but had now fallen into obscurity.  She invites him to come stay with them and is delighted when he agrees.  She imagines long talks with him and that his work will be reimagined and vibrant once more due to their location.  She sees herself as a patroness of the arts.

The first clue that things will not work out is on L's arrival.  Instead of coming alone, he arrives with a young woman with whom it is obvious he has a relationship.  It is obvious that the couple think little of M and Tony, believing more that they are gracing them with their company rather than feeling any gratitude.  L is interested in painting Tony and M's daughter but has no interest in M and seems to avoid her as much as possible.  This sets the stage for conflict between M and L, and between M and Tony as he tries to put his foot down on her behaviour.

This book has been nominated for the 2021 Booker Prize.  Rachel Cusk has a long history of writing awards including the Whitbread Award for First Novel and nominations for the Orange Prize, the Bailey Prize, the Giller Prize and others.  In this work, she explores the feelings of a middle-aged woman, someone whose first age of beauty has passed and who is working out what the rest of her life will be.  M is someone the reader will want to shake.  Her husband is caring and loving, his only thoughts to watch over her and protect her but M almost ignores him in her quest to become important to another man and to fulfill her expectations of being a patron of the arts.  Similarly, she isn't sure how to relate to her daughter and M's self-image can only be filtered through the thoughts and actions of those around her.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.