A NovelBy Jill BialoskyNarrated by Elisabeth Rodgers
Length7h 58m
About this audiobook
An explosive tale of art and myth, desire and betrayal, from New York Times best-selling author Jill BialoskySomething terrible has happened and I don’t know what to do. An unnamed narrator’s life is unraveling. Her only child has left home, and her twenty-year marriage is strained. Anticipation about her soon-to-be-released book of poetry looms. She seeks answers to the paradoxes of love, desire, and parenthood among the Greek and Roman gods at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As she passes her days teaching at a boys’ prep school, spending her off-hours sequestered in the museum’s austere galleries, she is haunted by memories of a yearlong friendship with a colleague, a fellow poet struggling with his craft. As secret betrayals and deceptions come to light and rage threatens to overwhelm her, the pantheon of gods assume remarkably vivid lives of their own, forcing her to choose between reality and myth in an effort to free herself from the patriarchal constraints of the past and embrace a new vision for her future. The Deceptions is a page-turning and seductively told exploration of female sexuality and ambition as well as a human drama that dares to test the stories we tell ourselves. It is also a brilliant investigation of a life caught between the dueling magnetic poles of privacy and its appropriation in art and literature. Celebrated poet, memoirist, and novelist Jill Bialosky has reached new and daring heights in her boldest work yet.
Jill Bialosky is the author of Asylum and four other critically acclaimed collections of poetry; The Deceptions and three other critically acclaimed novels; and two memoirs, including History of a Suicide: My Sister’s Unfinished Life, a New York Times bestseller. Her work has been a finalist for the James Laughlin Award, the Paterson Poetry Prize, and the Books for a Better Life Award. In 2014, she was honored by the Poetry Society of America for her distinguished contribution to poetry. She is executive editor and vice president at W. W. Norton & Company. She lives in New York City. Find out more at JillBialosky.com.View all by Jill Bialosky
