The
Woman Upstairs
By Claire Messud
Our February Selection
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Emperor’s
Children, a masterly new novel: the riveting confession of a woman
awakened, transformed and betrayed by a desire for a world beyond her own. Nora Eldridge, an elementary school teacher
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, long ago compromised her dream to be a successful
artist, mother and lover. She has instead become the “woman upstairs,” a
reliable friend and neighbor always on the fringe of others’ achievements. Then
into her life arrives the glamorous and cosmopolitan Shahids. Told with urgency, intimacy and piercing
emotion, this brilliant novel of passion and artistic fulfillment explores the
intensity, thrill—and the devastating cost—of embracing an authentic life.
