From the author of theOutline trilogy, a fable of human destiny and decline, enacted in a closed system of intimate, fractured relationships. Can art both save and destroy us?Rachel Cuskoffers a deep affirmation of the human soul while grappling with its darkest demons.A woman invites a famed artist to visit the remote coastal region where she lives, in the belief that his vision will penetrate the mystery of her life and landscape. Over the course of one hot summer, his provocative presence provides the frame for a study of female fate and male privilege, the geometries of human relationships, and the struggle to live morally between our internal and external worlds.  Inspired byLorenzo in Taos,Mabel Dodge Luhan's1932 memoir about the writerD. H. Lawrence'sfraught visit to her communal property, the novel hovers between past and present, Gothic and contemporary, fable and truth - and continues to haunt us long after we've looked away.Second Placeis a study of female fate and male privilege and the moral questions that animate our lives. It reminds us of art’s capacity to uplift - and to destroy."You know when you’re reading a page of Rachel Cusk’s fiction. Her narrators tug insistently if coolly at the central knots of being. They analyze every emotion as if it were freshly invented. Nothing is extraneous."  -Dwight Garner, The New York TimesRachel Cuskis a Canadian novelist and writer. Her 2005 novel In the Fold was longlisted for the Booker Prize.  She is also the author of the Outline trilogy, the memoirs A Life’s Work and Aftermath, and several other works of fiction and non-fiction. She is a Guggenheim fellow and lives in Paris.