August Blue: A Novel [Paperback]

Named a Best Book of the Year byTIME,Vulture,The Guardian,BBC,The Week, andPublisher's Weekly

A new novel from the Booker Prize finalist Deborah Levy, the celebrated author ofThe Man Who Saw EverythingandThe Cost of Living.

At the height of her career, the piano virtuoso Elsa M. Andersonformer child prodigy, now in her thirtieswalks off the stage in Vienna, midperformance.

Now she is in Athens, watching an uncannily familiar woman purchase a pair of mechanical dancing horses at a flea market. Elsa wants the horses too, but there are no more for sale. She drifts to the ferry port, on the run from her talent and her history.

So begins her journey across Europe, shadowed by the elusive woman who seems to be her double. A dazzling portrait of melancholy and metamorphosis, Deborah LevysAugust Blueuncovers the ways in which we attempt to revise our oldest stories and make ourselves anew.

Deborah Levywrites fiction, plays, and poetry. Her work has been staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company, broadcast on the BBC, and widely translated. She is the author of highly praised novels, includingThe Man Who Saw Everything(long-listed for the Booker Prize),Hot MilkandSwimming Home(both Man Booker Prize finalists),The Unloved, andBilly and Girl; the acclaimed story collectionBlack Vodka; and her three-part autobiography,Things I Dont Want to Know,The Cost of Living, andReal Estate. She lives in London and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Levy crafts a surreal and moving narrative about identity and art. Dont let the melancholy tone of the story fool youat its core,August Blueis a revealing look at the power of self-discovery.
Annabel Gutterman,TIME(Must-Read Books of 2023)

Levy writes in delicate, evocative strokes  a style that complements an elegant sl“U