"'Messud is an expert storyteller. Her style is precise and illuminating...dazzling' Observer 'Messud's ability to filter her rich imagination through brilliantly precise prose allows her to show the kernel of redemption in even the most unlikely of human alliances' Sunday Times"

Claire Messud was born in the United States in 1966. She was educated at Yale and Cambridge. Her previous books include The Hunters and The Last Life, which won the Encore Prize. Claire Messud was born in the United States in 1966. She was educated at Yale and Cambridge. She is the author of When The World Was Steady, which was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, The Hunters and The Last Life, which won the Encore Prize.