What You Will

What You Will by Katherine Bucknell, published by Fourth Estate in 2022, offers an intimate portrait of London intellectual life through the lens of personal relationships. This 352-page book delves into the complexities of marriage and friendship, focusing on Gwen, an American painter, and her English husband, Lawrence, an Oxford don. The arrival of Gwen’s friend Hilary from New York, who is grappling with her own challenges, sets off a chain of events that tests the bonds of love and friendship within their household.
Readers will find a narrative that explores themes of desire, freedom, and the intricacies of human connection. As Gwen attempts to navigate her friend’s romantic prospects amidst the backdrop of London’s bohemia and the pressures of intellectual life, the story raises profound questions about the nature of relationships and the struggles between personal impulses and societal expectations. This edition presents a multi-layered tale that invites reflection on how we manage our most intimate connections.
Official synopsis Publisher
An intimate portrait of London intellectual life, the breakdown of a marriage and the friendship between two women, ‘What You Will’ draws the reader into a spellbinding world of beauty and tension. Gwen, an American painter, lives in London with her English husband, Lawrence, an Oxford don. When Gwen’s friend Hilary arrives from New York bruised by a broken engagement, a lost job and an unsuitable love affair, Gwen is determined to find her someone to marry. But will he be another Oxford intellectual, a member of London’s bohemia, or a professional from the scandal-ridden New York museum world? But with Gwen’s arrival the bonds of friendship, love, and marriage are severely tested. Pressure builds in the household, affecting Gwen and Lawrence’s small son as he struggles to engage with the sophistication and savagery around him. Tackling deep and unsetttling questions – Are we slaves to our impulses or to one another? Is it possible to have both love and freedom? Can the artist or the intellectual illuminate such questions?, ‘What You Will’ is a subtly wrought, multi-layered, and hypnotically suspenseful tale about how we handle our most intimate relationships.
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