Self-Portrait with Boy: A Novel

ISBN: 1501169580

Author: Lyon, Rachel

Condition: New

Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel PrizeA compulsively readable and electrifying debut about an ambitious young female artist who accidentally photographs a boy falling to his death-an image that could jumpstart her career, but would also devastate her most intimate friendship.Lu Rile is a relentlessly focused young photographer struggling to make ends meet. Working three jobs, responsible for her aging father, and worrying that the crumbling warehouse she lives in is being sold to developers, she is at a point of desperation. One day, in the background of a self-portrait, Lu accidentally captures on film a boy falling past her window to his death. The photograph turns out to be startlingly gorgeous, the best work of art shes ever made. Its an image that could change her lifeif she lets it.But the decision to show the photograph is not easy. The boy is her neighbors son, and the tragedy brings all the buildings residents together. It especially unites Lu with his beautiful grieving mother, Kate. As the two forge an intense bond based on sympathy, loneliness, and budding attraction, Lu feels increasingly unsettled and guilty, torn between equally fierce desires: to use the photograph to advance her career, and to protect a woman she has come to love.Set in early 90s Brooklyn on the brink of gentrification, Self-Portrait with Boy is a provocative commentary about the emotional dues that must be paid on the road to success, a powerful exploration of the complex terrain of female friendship, and a brilliant debut from novelist Rachel Lyon.