Deborah Levy’s novel presents an unnamed British writer in Paris investigating Gertrude Stein through her own friendships and experiences. Blending fiction with biography, it offers an inventive, gripping portrait of Stein while exploring the difficulties of understanding an artist whose work is both compelling and deliberately elusive.

Set in late 2024, the narrator’s research takes her from a friend’s missing cat to Père Lachaise cemetery, where she reflects on Stein, other literary figures and her relationships. Stein is portrayed as a fearless modernist, art collector and pioneer of stream-of-consciousness writing, while Kristin Atherton’s cool, precise narration is praised for matching the audiobook’s measured pace.