Coming
Karro by Jenny Mustard
- Sale Date
- ISBN
- 9781638935506
- Page Count
- 272
- Language
- English
- Imprint
- Tin House
Meet the Author
Jenny Mustard
Ferrante meets Kitamura in this taut and sensual contemporary reimagining of Anna Karenina that fearlessly searches for the woman at its heart, while fully transforming the story we thought we knew, from critically acclaimed novelist Jenny Mustard.
On the cusp of her fortieth birthday, Karro has everything: a husband on the rise in London politics, a beautiful son, a luxurious Edwardian home, and money enough to waste her days on literature and the occasional dose of opium. When Karro falls into a consuming affair with a younger American artist, what begins as an awakening soon becomes a scandal, and society’s repercussions are immediate and severe. Karro's desires force her on a desperate pursuit of happiness—one that threatens to unravel not only her sense of self, but her entire existence.
Moving seamlessly between the high-society circles of London, Stockholm, the Côte d’Azur, and New York, Karro bravely revisits the age-old concept of the fallen woman and asks what it means to fall from grace today. An impassioned reimagining of Anna Karenina told in a first-person both tender and piercing, Karro is a psychologically astute and searingly honest portrait of a woman collapsing under the weight of motherhood and society's expectations. Like the wolf who chews off her own limb to escape, will Mustard's Karro be able to free herself before it's too late? And in our contemporary age, what shape might that freedom take?
On the cusp of her fortieth birthday, Karro has everything: a husband on the rise in London politics, a beautiful son, a luxurious Edwardian home, and money enough to waste her days on literature and the occasional dose of opium. When Karro falls into a consuming affair with a younger American artist, what begins as an awakening soon becomes a scandal, and society’s repercussions are immediate and severe. Karro's desires force her on a desperate pursuit of happiness—one that threatens to unravel not only her sense of self, but her entire existence.
Moving seamlessly between the high-society circles of London, Stockholm, the Côte d’Azur, and New York, Karro bravely revisits the age-old concept of the fallen woman and asks what it means to fall from grace today. An impassioned reimagining of Anna Karenina told in a first-person both tender and piercing, Karro is a psychologically astute and searingly honest portrait of a woman collapsing under the weight of motherhood and society's expectations. Like the wolf who chews off her own limb to escape, will Mustard's Karro be able to free herself before it's too late? And in our contemporary age, what shape might that freedom take?
Praise for Karro
-
“Karro is an ingenious contemporary nod to Tolstoy’s classic. Jenny Mustard gives us a gripping psychological exploration of family trauma, high-society performance, and the devastating cost of self-alienation.”
Yiyun Li, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Things in Nature Merely Grow -
“Karro is a novel of rare emotional intensity—affecting and provocative. Karro is such a complex, flawed, and deeply human character, and Mustard has excelled in crafting a protagonist who resists simplification and demands engagement. With notes of Jean Rhys and Ottessa Moshfegh, but this is its own thing. An utterly controlled yet delightfully unhinged novel—it is bold, modern, unsettling, and exquisitely rendered. Karro is an exceptional achievement.”
Elaine Feeney, author of Let Me Go Mad in My Own Way -
“Karro is a heady and addictive yet surprisingly tender reinvigoration of Tolstoy’s classic. The story unwinds with brilliant and precise clarity. As Karro’s so-called perfect life began to unravel, I was entirely unable to look away. Mustard tackles taboos around motherhood and women’s choices while expertly making the reader examine their own feminism. There were echoes of Raven Leilani, Natalia Ginzburg, and even Virginia Woolf. I was blown away.”
Molly Aitken, author of Bright I Burn
About the Imprint
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