Creation Lake: From the Booker Prize-shortlisted author Kushnerov Rachel (2024)

Rachel Kushner, a Booker Prize finalist and two-time National Book Award finalist, presents a novel about a seductive and cunning American woman who infiltrates an anarchist collective in France. Sadie Smith, a thirty-four-year-old undercover agent known for her ruthless tactics, bold opinions and striking beauty, is sent by her mysterious and powerful employers to a remote region of France. Her mission is to infiltrate a commune of radical eco-activists influenced by Bruno Lacombe, a mysterious elder who has rejected civilisation altogether. Sadie initially finds his idealism laughable: he lives in a Neanderthal cave and believes enlightenment lies in returning to primitivism. But while Sadie assumes she is the seductress and puppet master of those she surveils, Bruno draws her in with his ingenious counter-histories, artful laments and tragic story. Beneath this parodic spy novel about a woman caught between the past and the future lies a profound examination of human history. Creation Lake is Rachel Kushners latest work, combining high art, high comedy and irresistible pleasure.