{"product_id":"second-place-by-rachel-cusk","title":"'Second Place' by Rachel Cusk","description":"\u003ch4 data-start=\"595\" data-end=\"1012\"\u003eA woman arrives at a coastal house owned by a famous artist, invited—or perhaps drawn—into a situation that quickly reveals itself as unstable.\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"595\" data-end=\"1012\"\u003eAround her: the artist, his volatile partner, and the uneasy triangulation of attention, control, and interpretation. What unfolds isn’t quite plot so much as a series of shifting positions—who is observing, who is being shaped, and who gets to decide what any of it means.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1014\" data-end=\"1392\"\u003ePublished in 2021, \u003cem data-start=\"1033\" data-end=\"1047\"\u003eSecond Place\u003c\/em\u003e continues \u003cspan class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"whitespace-normal\"\u003eRachel Cusk\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e’s move away from conventional narrative into something cooler and more interrogative. Loosely inspired by Mabel Dodge Luhan’s memoir \u003cem data-start=\"1229\" data-end=\"1246\"\u003eLorenzo in Taos\u003c\/em\u003e, the novel reworks that dynamic—artist and patron, host and intruder—into a study of authority, authorship, and the subtle violence of being seen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1907\" data-end=\"1937\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFaber \u0026amp; Faber paperback, 2021. Very good condition: light shelf wear only; clean covers with minimal signs of handling; binding firm; pages clean and unmarked.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"bower studio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44493221724243,"sku":null,"price":19.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0689\/0268\/2707\/files\/Untitleddesign-2026-04-14T163130.592.png?v=1776148301","url":"https:\/\/bowerbooks.com\/products\/second-place-by-rachel-cusk","provider":"bower books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}