A glorious celebration of reading deeply and seeing the world and ourselves reflected back to us in art

In this rich and engaging collection of essays, Tessa Hadley reflects on a lifetime of reading with the clarity and perceptiveness that have made her one of our most widely loved contemporary writers. She charts her development as a lover of literature from a book-mad childhood shaped by libraries and imaginary worlds, through the long, uncertain years of writing and teaching, to the mature artistic vision that defines her work today.

Here, Tessa Hadley turns to writers as varied as George Eliot and George Saunders, Tolstoy and Elizabeth Bowen, and looks closely at a handful of paintings. Throughout, her sharp eye, precise judgement, and instinct for style guides the reader towards the pleasures found in each text, and in a life made richer, deeper, and more fully imagined through art.

'It will remain my writing and reading companion for years, probably always' SAMANTHA HARVEY

'Tessa Hadley is a great writer, and if it's possible, an even better reader' ZADIE SMITH

'The writer we didn't know we were waiting for, until she arrived' ANNE ENRIGHT

'Tessa Hadley's extraordinary skill [is] making both surface life and deep interiors come fully alive' COLM TOIBIN

© Tessa Hadley 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026