Creation Lake is a mesmerizing novel about a secret agent, a thirty-four-year-old American woman of ruthless tactics, bold opinions, and clean beauty, who is sent to infiltrate an anarchist collective in France.
Sadie Smith, the protagonist, introduces herself to her lover and the rural commune of French subversives she is spying on. Her lover, Lucien, a young and well-born Parisian, is deceived by her calculated "cold bump," making him believe their encounter was accidental. Lucien, like everyone else Sadie targets, becomes a tool in her strategic game.
Sadie's operations are dictated by her shadowy "contacts" in business and government, who first want her to incite provocation and then demand even more. In the picturesque region of centuries-old farms and ancient caves, Sadie becomes entranced by Bruno Lacombe, a mentor to the young activists. Bruno communicates only by email and believes that true freedom from modern life's woes lies not in revolt but in returning to the ancient past.
As Sadie is convinced of her role as the puppet master, she finds herself seduced by Bruno's ingenious counter-histories and his tragic story. Rachel Kushner crafts a taut and dazzling rendition of "noir" in this novel, making it a work of high art, high comedy, and unforgettable pleasure.
The remarkable next novel from Matt Haig, the author of #1 New York Times bestseller The Midnight Library, with more than nine million copies sold worldwide.
"What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don’t understand yet…"
When retired math teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.
Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.
Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.