Known for her deft ability to conjure the lives and mores of radically different characters, Claire Messud is “a writer of near-miraculous perfection” (New York Times). Her books include When the World Was Steady, The Hunters, and The Last Life—all New York Times Notable Books of the Year—and The Emperor’s Children, a cutting portrait of life among Manhattan’s junior intelligentsia that was long-listed for the Booker Prize. A PEN/Faulkner Award finalist, she is the recipient of Guggenheim and Radcliffe fellowships, as well as the Straus Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In her new book, a consistent friend and tidy neighbor is transformed by desire for a world beyond her own.