Undue Influence

This superb new novel by the author who has been called "one of the finest novelists of her generation" (The New York Times) tells the story of Claire Pitt, a young woman who has lived most of her life under the watchful eyes of her parents. After her mother's death, Claire reexamines her day-to-day routine and her future in her London flat. She passes the time working in a bookstore, where she meets a mysterious and attractive young man whose wife is ill, and they begin a relationship that dramatically alters Claire's vision of herself, her past, and her future.

"Under Brookner's transforming eye, the most ordinary lives become engrossing adventures," wrote the San Francisco Chronicle, and inUndue Influence Brookner once again combines the exquisite writing and astute psychological perception for which she's famous.

Anita Brookner is the author of nineteen finely crafted novels, including Falling Slowly, Visitors, and Hotel du Lac, which won the Booker Prize. An international authority on eighteenth-century painting, she became the first female Slade Professor at Cambridge University. She lives in London.