The Confession - Softcover

Burton, Jessie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 150988615X ISBN 13: 9781509886159

Publisher: Picador, 2019

Synopsis

'Dazzlingly good, utterly engrossing . . . Without doubt one of the best novels of recent years' Elizabeth Day, author of How To Fail

The sensational third novel from Jessie Burton, the million-copy bestselling author of The Miniaturist and The Muse.

One winter's afternoon on Hampstead Heath in 1980, Elise Morceau meets Constance Holden and quickly falls under her spell. Connie is bold and alluring, a successful writer whose novel is being turned into a major Hollywood film. Elise follows Connie to LA, a city of strange dreams and swimming pools and late-night gatherings of glamorous people. But whilst Connie thrives on the heat and electricity of this new world where everyone is reaching for the stars and no one is telling the truth, Elise finds herself floundering. When she overhears a conversation at a party that turns everything on its head, Elise makes an impulsive decision that will change her life forever.

Three decades later, Rose Simmons is seeking answers about her mother, who disappeared when she was a baby. Having learned that the last person to see her was Constance Holden, a reclusive novelist who withdrew from public life at the peak of her fame, Rose is drawn to the door of Connie's imposing house in search of a confession . . .

From the million-copy bestselling author of The Miniaturist and The Muse, The Confession is a luminous, powerful and deeply moving novel about secrets and storytelling, motherhood and friendship, and how we lose and find ourselves.

About this title

Review:

Dazzlingly good. The Confession is that rare thing: an utterly engrossing novel which asks big questions without ever once losing sight of the storyteller's need to entertain and move. I turned the final pages in tears and I know already I shall return to it again and again. Without doubt one of the best novels of recent years Author: Elizabeth Day, author of The Party and How to Fail

I haven’t enjoyed a book so much in a long time . . . I lost myself in the story, not wanting to come up for air. A bold, intelligent, wonderful novel Author: Sarah Winman, author of Tin Man

Burton is asking important questions in The Confession – questions about motherhood, art and creativity, love, friendship – and in doing this, she has created three utterly fascinating characters. Connie, Elise, and Rose are complicated; complex in ways that women are so rarely allowed to be in literature, demanding that their stories be heard. This is a beautiful novel and one that will stay with me for a very long time Author: Louise O’Neill, author of Only Ever Yours

Jessie Burton always writes perceptively about female identity and creativity, but here she also explores motherhood in all its guises and nuances to stunning effect Source: Red

Her best yet, I’m dazzled by it . . . it’s ambitious and courageous in its scope and I was thrilled and emboldened. The Confession is clever, assured and compelling and I am deeply jealous of every reader who has it all ahead of them Author: Daisy Buchanan, author of The Sisterhood

Successful writer Constance 'Connie' Holden and Elise Morceau meet by chance on Hampstead Heath in 1980. Elise follows Connie to the glamorous world of LA, but it's not long before she makes a decision that changes everything, and a compelling mystery begins to unfold. An absorbing tale of self-discovery Source: Woman & Home

An irresistible tale of families, deception and the consequences of our choices. With Connie, Rose and Elise, Jessie pours light into the closed-off parts of our minds, and explores how we can be both masters of and servants to our own fate. She unpicks you stitch by stitch, then puts you back together again Author: Stacey Halls, author of The Familiars

A masterpiece about the autonomy of women and their roles in society, navigating Hollywood stardom, motherhood and fragmented identity Source: Irish Tatler

In The Confession, Jessie Burton hasn’t just captured a myriad of women’s experiences but also the intrinsic ambivalence of living in a female body: the advantages, the oppressions. She’s built a world of women that is so vivid and absorbing that at one point I paused in my reading to google Connie – and only then remembered that she was a fictional character Author: Jean Hannah Edelstein, author of This Really Isn’t About You

From the Back Cover:

Praise for The Miniaturist and The Muse:

‘The literary sensation of the year’ Sunday Times

‘Deftly plotted and richly characterised . . . exquisitely written, evocative and suspenseful’ Sunday Express

‘Masterful, complex and atmospheric . . . exhilarating’ Herald

‘Heart-stopping, evocative . . . a triumph’ Daily Telegraph

‘Atmospheric and fascinating . . . keeps you gripped right to the unexpected conclusion’ The Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 150988615X
• ISBN 13: 9781509886159
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464